Cli-rssi measurement resource configuration

ABSTRACT

Provided herein are systems and methods of configuring received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements to determine crosslink interferences (CLI). For instance, a user equipment (UE) can receive, using radio front-end circuitry, a RSSI resource configuration for CLI measurement from a base station in a 5G network. The UE can then measure a RSSI of one or more received signals based at least in part on the RSSI resource configuration. The UE can then perform one or more CLI measurements based at least in part on the measured RSSI. The RSSI resource configuration includes an identifier information element (IE), one or more slot-level indication IEs, one or more symbol-level indication IEs, one or more physical resource block (PRB)-level indication IEs, one or more resource element (RE) pattern indication IEs, and one or more receive beam indication IEs.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/805,575, filed Feb. 14, 2019, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wirelesscommunications.

SUMMARY

Aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will beset forth in part in the following description, may be learned from thedescription, or may be learned through practice of the embodiments.

One example aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a userequipment (UE) comprising radio front end circuitry and processorcircuitry. The processor circuitry is configured to receive, using theradio front end circuitry, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI)resource configuration for crosslink interference (CLI) measurement froma base station in a 5G network. The processor circuitry is furtherconfigured to measure a RSSI of one or more received signals based atleast in part on the received RSSI resource configuration. The processorcircuitry is further configured to perform one or more CLI measurementsbased at least in part on the measured RSSI. The RSSI resourceconfiguration includes an identifier information element (IE), one ormore slot-level indication IEs, one or more symbol-level indication IEs,one or more physical resource block- (PRB) level indication IEs, one ormore resource element (RE) pattern indication IEs, and one or morereceive beam indication IEs.

In some embodiments, the one or more slot-level indication IEs indicatewhether a slot-level measurement resource is periodic orsemi-persistent.

In some embodiments, the one or more symbol-level indication IEscomprise a start and length indication value (SLIV) to jointly indicatea start symbol and a length of data transmission for RSSI measurement.

In some embodiments, the one or more symbol-level indication IEscomprise a startPosition IE and a nrofSymbols IE.

In some embodiments, the one or more symbol-level indication IEscomprise a bitmap indicating orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing(OFDM) symbols for measurement.

In some embodiments, the one or more PRB-level indication IEs comprise aresource indicator value (RIV) indicating a starting PRB and a length ofcontinuously allocated PRBs.

In some embodiments, the one or more PRB-level indication IEs comprise abitmap to indicate non-contiguous PRBs for RSSI measurement.

In some embodiments, the one or more receive beam indication IEscomprise a spatialRelationInfo IE to indicate a receive beam for RSSImeasurement.

Another example aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a basestation in a 5G network comprising a memory that stores instructions anda processor, upon executing the instructions, configured to determine areceived signal strength indicator (RSSI) resource configuration forcrosslink interference (CLI) measurement. The processor is furtherconfigured to measure a RSSI of one or more received signals based atleast in part on the received RSSI resource configuration. The processoris further configured to perform one or more CLI measurements based atleast in part on the measured RSSI. The RSSI resource configurationincludes an identifier information element (IE), one or more slot-levelindication IEs, one or more symbol-level indication IEs, one or morephysical resource block- (PRB) level indication IEs, one or moreresource element (RE) pattern indication IEs, and one or more receivebeam indication IEs.

Other aspects of the present disclosure are directed to methods,systems, apparatuses, tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media,user interfaces and devices for providing RSSI resource configurationsfor CLI measurement in a 5G network.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of various embodimentswill become better understood with reference to the followingdescription and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which areincorporated in, and constitute part of, this specification, illustrateembodiments of the present disclosure and, together with thedescription, serve to explain the related principles.

This Summary is provided merely for purposes of reviewing some exemplaryembodiments, so as to provide a basic understanding of some aspects ofthe subject matter described herein. Accordingly, it will be appreciatedthat the above-described features are merely examples and should not beconstrued to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter describedherein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter described herein will become apparent from the followingDetailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Detailed discussion of embodiments directed to one of ordinary skill inthe art is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to theappended figures, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example wireless network according to someembodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts an example RSSI resource configuration according to someembodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) forproviding an RSSI resource configuration according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 4-7 depict example RSSI resource configurations according to someembodiments.

FIG. 8 depicts an example system architecture according to someembodiments.

FIG. 9 depicts another example system architecture according to someembodiments.

FIG. 10 depicts another example system architecture according to someembodiments.

FIG. 11 depicts a block diagram of an example infrastructure equipmentaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 12 depicts a block diagram of an example platform according to someembodiments.

FIG. 13 depicts a block diagram of example baseband circuitry and frontend modules according to some embodiments.

FIG. 14 depicts a block diagram of example protocol functions that maybe implemented in a wireless communication device according to someembodiments.

FIG. 15 depicts a block diagram of example core network componentsaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 16 depicts a block diagram of example components of a system forsupporting NFV according to some embodiments.

FIG. 17 depicts a block diagram of an example computer system that canbe utilized to implement various some embodiments.

FIG. 18 depicts a flow diagram of an example method of processing a RSSImeasurement resource configuration according to various embodiments.

FIG. 19 depicts a flow diagram of an example method of performing CLImeasurements based on a received RSSI resource configuration accordingto various embodiments.

FIG. 20 depicts a flow diagram of an example method of performing CLImeasurements based on a RSSI resource configuration according to variousembodiments.

The features and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparentfrom the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunctionwith the drawings, in which like reference characters identifycorresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like referencenumbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/orstructurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element firstappears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the correspondingreference number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofvarious embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examplesthat depart from these specific details. In certain instances,descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted soas not to obscure the description of the various embodiments withunnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase“A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B).

New radio (NR) supports duplexing flexibility in both paired andunpaired spectrum, and two types of crosslink interference (CLI) ariseunder dynamic uplink/downlink (UL/DL) operation: user equipment-to-userequipment (UE-to-UE) interference and transmission and receptionpoint-to-transmission and reception point (TRP-to-TRP) interference.FIG. 1 depicts examples of such UE-to-UE interference and TRP-to-TRPinterferences in an example NR network 100. Specifically, signalscommunicated between TRP 102 and TRP 104 can experience TRP-to-TRPinterference, and signals communicated between UE 106 and UE 108 canexperience UE-to-UE interference.

To enable CLI mitigation schemes, UE-to-UE and TRP-to-TRP CLImeasurement and reporting are required. Both sounding referencesignal-reference signal received power (SRS-RSRP) and received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) can be used for CLI measurement at a UEdevice. CLI-RSSI is defined as the linear average of the total receivedpower observed only in certain orthogonal frequency-divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) symbols of measurement time resource(s), in themeasurement bandwidth, over the configured resource elements formeasurement by the UE. Therefore, a 5G base station (gNB) shouldconfigure a UE on the RSSI measurement resources in terms of measurementsymbols, measurement bandwidth, and resource element (RE) pattern, etc.

Measurement configurations of CLI-RSSI and SRS-RSRP are independent froma specification perspective. RRC configuration for CLI measurementresources may be based on a specific reference signal (RS) transmission,which covers the SRS-RSRP measurement resource configuration. Disclosedembodiments are directed to signaling for CLI-RSSI measurement resourceconfiguration. The configuration contains the following informationelements: slot-level indication, symbol-level indication, physicalresource block- (PRB) level indication, RE pattern indication, andreceive beam indication.

1. Brief Overview of RSSI Measurement Configuration

Two types of RSSI are defined: NR carrier RSSI is defined forsynchronization signal-references signal received quality (SS-RSRQ)calculation and channel state information- (CSI) RSSI is defined forCSI-RSRQ calculation. NR carrier RSSI is measured in the slots withinthe synchronization signal block-based measurement timing configuration(SMTC) window, and the measurement OFDM symbols are configured byendSymbol in radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE)SS-RSSI-Measurement shown in the following Table 1. NR carrier RSSImeasurement always starts from symbol #0 in a configured measurementslot.

TABLE 1 NR carrier RSSI measurement symbols OFDM signal indicationendSymbol Symbol indexes 0 {0,1} 1 {0,1,2, . . . ,10,11} 2 {0,1,2, . . .,5} 3 {0,1,2, . . . ,7}

Example aspect of the present disclosure provide new RSSI measurementresource configuration for CLI measurement with five IEs: slot-levelindication, symbol-level indication, PRB-level indication, RE patternindication, and receive beam indication.

2. CLI-RSSI Measurement Resource Configuration

In one embodiment, a new RRC IE CLI-RSSI-Measurement is defined asfollows:

CLI-RS SI-Measurement ::= SEQUENCE {  cli-RSSI-MeasurementId INTEGER(0..maxNrofCLI-RSSI-Measurement - 1),  resourceType CHOICE{  semi-persistent SEQUENCE{    periodicityAndOffset,   },   periodicSEQUENCE{    periodicityAndOffset,   },  },  timeDomainMapping, freqDomainMapping,  resourceElementMapping CHOICE{   comb-1 NULL,  comb-2 SEQUENCE{    combOffset-n2 IN IEGER (0..1),   }   comb-4SEQUENCE{    combOffset-n4 INTEGER (0..3),   }  }  spatialRelationInfo,TCI-stateId, OPTIONAL,  . . . }

The IE cli-RSSI-MeasurementId is used to identify RSSI measurementresource configurations. Multiple RSSI measurements could be configuredto capture CLI from different groups of aggressor UEs. FIG. 2 depicts anexample RSSI measurement resource configuration. Specifically, FIG. 2depicts aggressor group 202 and aggressor group 204, each including aplurality of UEs. As shown, FIG. 2 depicts RSSI SRS resources foraggressor groups 202 and 204.

2.1 Slot-Level Indication

The IE resourceType is used to indicate the time-domain pattern of theconfigured RSSI measurement resource. A RSSI measurement resource couldbe periodic or semi-persistent. Slot-level periodicity and offset aredefined here. A semi-persistent RSSI measurement resource can beactivated/deactivated by a medium access control (MAC) control element(CE).

FIG. 3 depicts an example MAC-CE 210 for the slot-level indication RSSIconfiguration. The fields in the MAC-CE 210 are defined as follows:

-   -   R: reserved bit    -   A/D: activate or deactivate    -   Cell ID: indicates the serving cell of the SP RSSI measurement        resource    -   BWP ID: indicates the UL BWP of the SP RSSI measurement resource    -   CLI-RSSI Measurement ID: indicates the RSSI measurement resource    -   TCI state ID: indicates receive beam for RSSI measurement using        TCI-state, which contains QCL information and QCL sources.

2.2 Symbol-Level Indication

The IE timeDomainMapping is used to indicate the OFDM symbols for RSSImeasurement within a configured slot. Multiple options can be used toindicate the starting OFDM symbols and the ending OFDM symbols.

Option 1: Start and Length Indication Value (SLIV)

SLIV is used in PDSCH and PUSCH resource allocation to jointly indicatethe start symbol (S) and the length of data transmission (L). SLIV iscalculated as follows:

If (L−1)<=7, then

SLIV=14×(L−1)+S,

else

SLIV=14×(14−L+1)+(14−1−S)

SLIV could be used to indicate symbol-level RSSI measurementconfiguration. For RSSI measurement over PUSCH transmission, thestarting symbol (S) could be any symbol in a slot and the length (L)could be 1 to 14 symbols. For RSSI measurement over SRS, S could be anylast 6 symbols in a slot, and L could be 1, 2, and 4 symbols.

FIG. 4 depicts an example resource configuration depicting asymbol-level indication of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) andRSSI measurement resources for a UE and gNB using SLIV.

Option 2: startPosition and nrofSymbols

These two IEs are used in SRS-Config to indicate symbols for SRStransmission. SRS can only be transmitted in the last 6 symbols of aslot. startPosition=0 means that SRS starts from the last symbol in aslot, and startPosition=1 means that SRS starts from the second lastsymbol in a slot. The range of startPosition is [0, 1, . . . , 5]. SRScan span 1, 2, and 4 symbols, then the value of nrofSymbols can be 1, 2,and 4. Because RSSI can be measured over SRS, startPosition andnrofSymbols can be used to indicate symbol-level RSSI measurementresource configuration. FIG. 5 depicts an example resource configurationdepicting a symbol-level indication of SRS and RSSI resources for a UEand gNB using startPosition and nrofSymbols.

Option 3: Bitmap

Previous options support only continuous allocated OFDM symbols for RSSImeasurement. To support RSSI in non-continuous OFDM symbols, a bitmapcan be used to indicate OFDM symbols for measurement. The length of thebitmap could be 14, or 12 for extended CP, and it represents all 14symbols in a slot. The length of bitmap could be 6, and it representsthe last 6 OFDM symbols, where SRS can be transmitted. The first bit(most significant bit) represents the starting OFDM symbol. A value of 1in the bitmap indicates that the RSSI should be measured in thecorresponding symbol.

Note that all three above options can be used for RSSI measurement overSRS or PUSCH. FIG. 6 depicts a resource configuration depicting asymbol-level indication of SRS and RSSI measurement resources for a UEand gNB using a bitmap to support non-contiguous resources for RSSImeasurement.

2.3 PRB-Level Indication

The IE freqDomainMapping is used to indicate the PRBs for RSSImeasurement within the active DL BWP. Multiple options can be used toindicate the starting PRB and the ending PRB.

Option 1: Resource Indicator Value (RIV)

RIV based resource allocation (RA type 1) is used for PUSCH resourceallocation. Similar to SLIV, RIV jointly coded the starting PRB(RB_(start)) and the length of contiguously allocated PRBs (L_(RBs)).RIV is calculated as follows:

If (L _(RBs)−1)<=floor(N _(BWP)/2), then

RIV=N _(BWP)(L _(RBs)−1)+RB _(start),

else

RIV=N _(BWP)(N _(BWP) −L _(RBs)+1)+(N _(BWP)−1−RB _(start)),

where N_(BWP) is the size of the active BWP.

For RSSI measurement over PUSCH, the number of PRBs (L_(RBs)) couldrange from 1 to N_(BWP). For RSSI measurement over SRS, L_(RBs) couldrange from 4 to N_(BWP).

Option 2: Bitmap

A bitmap can be used to indicate non-contiguous PRBs for RSSImeasurement, which is similar to RA type 0. An rgb-Size could beconfigured for the bitmap to reduce signaling overhead.

2.4 RE-Pattern Indication

The IE resourceElementMapping is used to indicate the RE pattern forRSSI measurement, because CLI-RSSI averages received power only overconfigured REs (not all 12 REs within a PRB). For CLI measurement overSRS, the comb number and comb offset of the SRS resource configurationneeds to be indicated in the RSSI measurement configuration. On theother hand, for CLI measured over PUSCH, all 12 REs in one PRB can beconfigured for RSSI measurement, which can be regarded as comb-1. Hence,three options are defined for resourceElementMapping: comb-1 is for RSSImeasurement over PUSCH; comb-2 and comb-4 (along with combOffset) arefor RSSI measurement over SRS.

Note that multiple resourceElementMapping can be configured for a singlemeasurement resource, and RSSI is a measurement over the union of all REpatterns.

2.5 Receive Beam Indication

The IE spatialRelationInfo is used to indicate the receive beam for RSSImeasurement in FR2. It specifies a source reference signal, SSB orCSI-RS, with QCL “Type-D”. The receive beam(s) for RSSI measurementshould be the same receive beam(s) used for QCL source reception.

For semi-persistent RSSI measurement resource configuration, receivebeam configured by spatialRelationInfo can be overwritten by theTCI-stateId indicated in activation MAC-CE.

For both periodic and semi-persistent RSSI measurement resourceconfiguration, receive beam configured by spatialRelationInfo can beoverwritten by the active DL receive beam. PDSCH and RSSI measurementcan be multiplexed in the same symbol, therefore, they should share thesame receive beam(s). In addition, using the same receive beam as theone used for DL date reception helps to capture CLI more accurately.

If PDSCH precedes RSSI measurement in a slot, then RSSI measurementcould use the DL receive beam. If PDSCH and RSSI measurement aremultiplexed in the same symbol, then RSSI measurement should use the DLreceive beam. If there is no ongoing DL data transmission, then RSSImeasurement could use the same reception beam used for the latest PDCCHor monitored CORESET.

FIG. 7 depicts example resource configurations depicting receive beamindication of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and RSSImeasurement resources for a UE and gNB. Resource configuration 302depicts an example where the RSSI measurement uses the same receive beamas PDSCH, and resource configuration 304 depicts an example wherein theRSSI measurement uses the same receive beam as physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) or control resource set (CORESET).

Systems and Implementations

FIG. 8 illustrates an example architecture of a system 400 of a network,in accordance with various embodiments. The following description isprovided for an example system 400 that operates in conjunction with theLTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPPtechnical specifications. However, the example embodiments are notlimited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to othernetworks that benefit from the principles described herein, such asfuture 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like.

As shown by FIG. 8, the system 800 includes UE 801 a and UE 801 b(collectively referred to as “UEs 801” or “UE 801”). In this example,UEs 801 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreenmobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks),but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such asconsumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, featurephones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE)devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices,onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobiledata terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine controlmodules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules,engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTCdevices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 801 may be IoT UEs, which maycomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologiessuch as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device viaa PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks.The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange ofdata. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which mayinclude uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within theInternet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs mayexecute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, statusupdates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UEs 801 may be configured to connect, for example, communicativelycouple, with an or RAN 810. In embodiments, the RAN 810 may be an NG RANor a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. Asused herein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 810 thatoperates in an NR or 5G system 800, and the term “E-UTRAN” or the likemay refer to a RAN 810 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 800. The UEs801 utilize connections (or channels) 803 and 804, respectively, each ofwhich comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussedin further detail below).

In this example, the connections 803 and 804 are illustrated as an airinterface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent withcellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMAnetwork protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the othercommunications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs 801may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 805. TheProSe interface 805 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface805 and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but notlimited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

The UE 801 b is shown to be configured to access an AP 806 (alsoreferred to as “WLAN node 806,” “WLAN 806,” “WLAN Termination 806,” “WT806” or the like) via connection 807. The connection 807 can comprise alocal wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 806 would comprise a wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP 806 is shown to be connected tothe Internet without connecting to the core network of the wirelesssystem (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, theUE 801 b, RAN 810, and AP 806 may be configured to utilize LWA operationand/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 801 b inRRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 811 a-b to utilize radioresources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE 801 b usingWLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 807) via IPsec protocol tunnelingto authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over theconnection 807. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entiretyof original IP packets and adding a new packet header, therebyprotecting the original header of the IP packets.

The RAN 810 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 811 a and 811b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 811” or “RAN node 811”) thatenable the connections 803 and 804. As used herein, the terms “accessnode,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that providesthe radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity betweena network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred toas BS, gNB s, RAN nodes, eNB s, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and soforth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial accesspoints) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographicarea (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the likemay refer to a RAN node 811 that operates in an NR or 5G system 800 (forexample, a gNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to aRAN node 811 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 800 (e.g., an eNB).According to various embodiments, the RAN nodes 811 may be implementedas one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell basestation, and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells,picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smalleruser capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes 811 may beimplemented as one or more software entities running on server computersas part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/ora virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN orvBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split whereinRRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocolentities are operated by individual RAN nodes 811; a MAC/PHY splitwherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUPand the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 811; or a “lowerPHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of thePHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHYlayer are operated by individual RAN nodes 811. This virtualizedframework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes 811 toperform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, anindividual RAN node 811 may represent individual gNB-DUs that areconnected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by FIG.8). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remoteradio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., FIG. 11), and the gNB-CU may beoperated by a server that is located in the RAN 810 (not shown) or by aserver pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally oralternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 811 may be next generationeNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane andcontrol plane protocol terminations toward the UEs 801, and areconnected to a 5GC (e.g., CN 1020 of FIG. 10) via an NG interface(discussed infra).

In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes 811 may be or act as RSUs.The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportationinfrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may beimplemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relativelystationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referredto as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may bereferred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB maybe referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSUis a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located ona roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 801(vUEs 801). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry tostore intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well asapplications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular andpedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct ShortRange Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latencycommunications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance,traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSUmay operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned lowlatency communications, as well as other cellular communicationsservices. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fihotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or morecellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Thecomputing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry ofthe RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoorinstallation, and may include a network interface controller to providea wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controllerand/or a backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 811 can terminate the air interface protocol andcan be the first point of contact for the UEs 801. In some embodiments,any of the RAN nodes 811 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 810 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In embodiments, the UEs 801 can be configured to communicate using OFDMcommunication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 811over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelinkcommunications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 811 to the UEs 801, while uplinktransmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be atime-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resourcegrid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Sucha time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDMsystems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symboland one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource gridin the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. Thesmallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resourceelement. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, whichdescribe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements.Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in thefrequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resourcesthat currently can be allocated. There are several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UEs 801 and the RAN nodes 811communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over alicensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the“licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to asthe “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensedspectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range ofapproximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensedspectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 801 and the RAN nodes 811may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In theseimplementations, the UEs 801 and the RAN nodes 811 may perform one ormore known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operationsin order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensedspectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting inthe unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may beperformed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 801 RAN nodes811, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency)and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specificchannel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensingoperation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine thepresence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determineif a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allowscellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in theunlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensingRF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time andcomparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based onIEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel accessmechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobilestation (MS) such as UE 801, AP 806, or the like) intends to transmit,the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, abackoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where morethan one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the sametime. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomlywithin the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence ofcollision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds.The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA ofWLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or ULtransmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions,respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable inlength between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximumvalues for the CWSs for.

LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and a MCOT (for example,a transmission burst) may be based on governmental regulatoryrequirements.

The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advancedsystems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC mayhave a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of fiveCCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can bedifferent for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lowerthan the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCscan have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, thenumber of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the samefor DL and UL.

CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs.The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCson different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. Aprimary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, andmay handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells arereferred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC forboth UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, whilechanging the PCC may require the UE 801 to undergo a handover. In LAA,eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensedspectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assistedby a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configuredwith more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on theconfigured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positionswithin a same subframe.

The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 801.The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resourceallocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It mayalso inform the UEs 801 about the transport format, resource allocation,and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically,downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resourceblocks to the UE 801 b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RANnodes 811 based on channel quality information fed back from any of theUEs 801. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on thePDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 801.

The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before beingmapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may firstbe organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using asub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmittedusing one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to ninesets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four QuadraturePhase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCHcan be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of theDCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCHformats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregationlevel, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that usesPDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may betransmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE maycorrespond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as anEREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN nodes 811 may be configured to communicate with one another viainterface 812. In embodiments where the system 800 is an LTE system(e.g., when CN 820 is an EPC 920 as in FIG. 9), the interface 812 may bean X2 interface 812. The X2 interface may be defined between two or moreRAN nodes 811 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect to EPC820, and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC 820. In someimplementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface(X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provideflow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2interface, and may be used to communicate information about the deliveryof user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specificsequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to anSeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs toa UE 801 from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that werenot delivered to a UE 801; information about a current minimum desiredbuffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and thelike. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality,including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user planetransport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well asinter-cell interference coordination functionality.

In embodiments where the system 800 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN820 is an 5GC 1020 as in FIG. 10), the interface 812 may be an Xninterface 812. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes811 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC 820,between a RAN node 811 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 820 and an eNB,and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 820. In some implementations,the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xncontrol plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteeddelivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flowcontrol functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and errorhandling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface;mobility support for UE 801 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED)including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected modebetween one or more RAN nodes 811. The mobility support may includecontext transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 811 to new(target) serving RAN node 811; and control of user plane tunnels betweenold (source) serving RAN node 811 to new (target) serving RAN node 811.A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer builton Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of aUDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stackmay include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as XnApplication Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that isbuilt on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may providethe guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transportIP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signalingPDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-Cprotocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or controlplane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

The RAN 810 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—inthis embodiment, core network (CN) 820. The CN 820 may comprise aplurality of network elements 822, which are configured to offer variousdata and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g.,users of UEs 801) who are connected to the CN 820 via the RAN 810. Thecomponents of the CN 820 may be implemented in one physical node orseparate physical nodes including components to read and executeinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g.,a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments,NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-describednetwork node functions via executable instructions stored in one or morecomputer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). Alogical instantiation of the CN 820 may be referred to as a networkslice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 820 may bereferred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures andinfrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions,alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resourcescomprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storagehardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used toexecute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

Generally, the application server 830 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 830can also be configured to support one or more communication services(e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, socialnetworking services, etc.) for the UEs 801 via the EPC 820.

In embodiments, the CN 820 may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 820” or thelike), and the RAN 810 may be connected with the CN 820 via an NGinterface 813. In embodiments, the NG interface 813 may be split intotwo parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 814, which carries trafficdata between the RAN nodes 811 and a UPF, and the S1 control plane(NG-C) interface 815, which is a signaling interface between the RANnodes 811 and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN 820 is a 5GC 820 arediscussed in more detail with regard to FIG. 10.

In embodiments, the CN 820 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 820” orthe like), while in other embodiments, the CN 820 may be an EPC). WhereCN 820 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 820” or the like), the RAN 810 maybe connected with the CN 820 via an S1 interface 813. In embodiments,the S1 interface 813 may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane(S1-U) interface 814, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes811 and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface 815, which is a signalinginterface between the RAN nodes 811 and MMEs. An example architecturewherein the CN 820 is an EPC 820 is shown by FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example architecture of a system 900 including afirst CN 920, in accordance with various embodiments. In this example,system 900 may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN 920 is an EPC920 that corresponds with CN 820 of FIG. 8. Additionally, the UE 901 maybe the same or similar as the UEs 801 of FIG. 8, and the E-UTRAN 910 maybe a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN 810 of FIG. 8, and whichmay include RAN nodes 811 discussed previously. The CN 920 may compriseMMEs 921, an S-GW 922, a P-GW 923, a HSS 924, and a SGSN 925.

The MMEs 921 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacySGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the currentlocation of a UE 901. The MMEs 921 may perform various MM procedures tomanage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and trackingarea list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” inE-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, datastorage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a presentlocation of the UE 901, provide user identity confidentiality, and/orperform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE 901 and theMME 921 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may beestablished in the UE 901 and the MME 921 when an attach procedure issuccessfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure ordatabase object that stores MM-related information of the UE 901. TheMMEs 921 may be coupled with the HSS 924 via an S6a reference point,coupled with the SGSN 925 via an S3 reference point, and coupled withthe S-GW 922 via an S11 reference point.

The SGSN 925 may be a node that serves the UE 901 by tracking thelocation of an individual UE 901 and performing security functions. Inaddition, the SGSN 925 may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobilitybetween 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selectionas specified by the MMEs 921; handling of UE 901 time zone functions asspecified by the MMEs 921; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MMEs 921 and theSGSN 925 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPPaccess network mobility in idle and/or active states.

The HSS 924 may comprise a database for network users, includingsubscription-related information to support the network entities'handling of communication sessions. The EPC 920 may comprise one orseveral HSSs 924, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on thecapacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. Forexample, the HSS 924 can provide support for routing/roaming,authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, locationdependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 924 and theMMEs 921 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data forauthenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC 920 between HSS 924and the MMEs 921.

The S-GW 922 may terminate the S1 interface 813 (“S1-U” in FIG. 9)toward the RAN 910, and routes data packets between the RAN 910 and theEPC 920. In addition, the S-GW 922 may be a local mobility anchor pointfor inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor forinter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawfulintercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S11 referencepoint between the S-GW 922 and the MMEs 921 may provide a control planebetween the MMEs 921 and the S-GW 922. The S-GW 922 may be coupled withthe P-GW 923 via an S5 reference point.

The P-GW 923 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN 930. The P-GW923 may route data packets between the EPC 920 and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 830 (alternativelyreferred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface 825 (see e.g., FIG. 8). Inembodiments, the P-GW 923 may be communicatively coupled to anapplication server (application server 830 of FIG. 8 or PDN 930 in FIG.9) via an IP communications interface 825 (see, e.g., FIG. 8). The S5reference point between the P-GW 923 and the S-GW 922 may provide userplane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 923 and the S-GW922. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 922 relocation dueto UE 901 mobility and if the S-GW 922 needs to connect to anon-collocated P-GW 923 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 923may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging datacollection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi referencepoint between the P-GW 923 and the packet data network (PDN) 930 may bean operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packetdata network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The P-GW 923may be coupled with a PCRF 926 via a Gx reference point.

PCRF 926 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC 920. In anon-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 926 in the Home PublicLand Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE 901's Internet ProtocolConnectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario withlocal breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE901's IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a VisitedPCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). ThePCRF 926 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 930via the P-GW 923. The application server 930 may signal the PCRF 926 toindicate a new service flow and select the appropriate QoS and chargingparameters. The PCRF 926 may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown)with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which commences the QoS and chargingas specified by the application server 930. The Gx reference pointbetween the PCRF 926 and the P-GW 923 may allow for the transfer of QoSpolicy and charging rules from the PCRF 926 to PCEF in the P-GW 923. AnRx reference point may reside between the PDN 930 (or “AF 930”) and thePCRF 926.

FIG. 10 illustrates an architecture of a system 1000 including a secondCN 1020 in accordance with various embodiments. The system 1000 is shownto include a UE 1001, which may be the same or similar to the UEs 801and UE 901 discussed previously; a (R)AN 1010, which may be the same orsimilar to the RAN 810 and RAN 910 discussed previously, and which mayinclude RAN nodes 811 discussed previously; and a DN 1003, which may be,for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services;and a 5GC 1020. The 5GC 1020 may include an AUSF 1022; an AMF 1021; aSMF 1024; a NEF 1023; a PCF 1026; a NRF 1025; a UDM 1027; an AF 1028; aUPF 1002; and a NSSF 1029.

The UPF 1002 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RATmobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN 1003, anda branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 1002 mayalso perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection,enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets(UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handlingfor a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rateenforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flowmapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, andperform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notificationtriggering. UPF 1002 may include an uplink classifier to support routingtraffic flows to a data network. The DN 1003 may represent variousnetwork operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN1003 may include, or be similar to, application server 830 discussedpreviously. The UPF 1002 may interact with the SMF 1024 via an N4reference point between the SMF 1024 and the UPF 1002.

The AUSF 1022 may store data for authentication of UE 1001 and handleauthentication-related functionality. The AUSF 1022 may facilitate acommon authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 1022may communicate with the AMF 1021 via an N12 reference point between theAMF 1021 and the AUSF 1022; and may communicate with the UDM 1027 via anN13 reference point between the UDM 1027 and the AUSF 1022.Additionally, the AUSF 1022 may exhibit an Nausf service-basedinterface.

The AMF 1021 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., forregistering UE 1001, etc.), connection management, reachabilitymanagement, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-relatedevents, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 1021 may bea termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF 1021and the SMF 1024. The AMF 1021 may provide transport for SM messagesbetween the UE 1001 and the SMF 1024, and act as a transparent proxy forrouting SM messages. AMF 1021 may also provide transport for SMSmessages between UE 1001 and an SMSF (not shown by FIG. 10). AMF 1021may act as SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 1022 andthe UE 1001, receipt of an intermediate key that was established as aresult of the UE 1001 authentication process. Where USIM basedauthentication is used, the AMF 1021 may retrieve the security materialfrom the AUSF 1022. AMF 1021 may also include a SCM function, whichreceives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-networkspecific keys. Furthermore, AMF 1021 may be a termination point of a RANCP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the(R)AN 1010 and the AMF 1021; and the AMF 1021 may be a termination pointof NAS (N1) signalling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrityprotection.

AMF 1021 may also support NAS signalling with a UE 1001 over an N3 IWFinterface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrustedentities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface betweenthe (R)AN 1010 and the AMF 1021 for the control plane, and may be atermination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 1010 andthe UPF 1002 for the user plane. As such, the AMF 1021 may handle N2signalling from the SMF 1024 and the AMF 1021 for PDU sessions and QoS,encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, mark N3user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated with suchmarking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlinkcontrol-plane NAS signalling between the UE 1001 and AMF 1021 via an N1reference point between the UE 1001 and the AMF 1021, and relay uplinkand downlink user-plane packets between the UE 1001 and UPF 1002. TheN3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with theUE 1001. The AMF 1021 may exhibit an Namf service-based interface, andmay be a termination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs1021 and an N17 reference point between the AMF 1021 and a 5G-EIR (notshown by FIG. 10).

The UE 1001 may need to register with the AMF 1021 in order to receivenetwork services. RM is used to register or deregister the UE 1001 withthe network (e.g., AMF 1021), and establish a UE context in the network(e.g., AMF 1021). The UE 1001 may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state oran RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the UE 1001 isnot registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 1021 holds novalid location or routing information for the UE 1001 so the UE 1001 isnot reachable by the AMF 1021. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 1001is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 1021 may holda valid location or routing information for the UE 1001 so the UE 1001is reachable by the AMF 1021. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 1001may perform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodicRegistration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodicupdate timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE 1001 is stillactive), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UEcapability information or to re-negotiate protocol parameters with thenetwork, among others.

The AMF 1021 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 1001, whereeach RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. TheRM context may be a data structure, database object, etc. that indicatesor stores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and theperiodic update timer. The AMF 1021 may also store a 5GC MM context thatmay be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. Invarious embodiments, the AMF 1021 may store a CE mode B Restrictionparameter of the UE 1001 in an associated MM context or RM context. TheAMF 1021 may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE's usagesetting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RMcontext).

CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection betweenthe UE 1001 and the AMF 1021 over the N1 interface. The signalingconnection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 1001and the CN 1020, and comprises both the signaling connection between theUE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPPaccess) and the N2 connection for the UE 1001 between the AN (e.g., RAN1010) and the AMF 1021. The UE 1001 may operate in one of two CM states,CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 1001 is operating in theCM-IDLE state/mode, the UE 1001 may have no NAS signaling connectionestablished with the AMF 1021 over the N1 interface, and there may be(R)AN 1010 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for theUE 1001. When the UE 1001 is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode,the UE 1001 may have an established NAS signaling connection with theAMF 1021 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 1010 signalingconnection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE 1001.Establishment of an N2 connection between the (R)AN 1010 and the AMF1021 may cause the UE 1001 to transition from CM-IDLE mode toCM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE 1001 may transition from the CM-CONNECTEDmode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2 signaling between the (R)AN 1010 andthe AMF 1021 is released.

The SMF 1024 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment,modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node);UE IP address allocation and management (including optionalauthorization); selection and control of UP function; configuringtraffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination;termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controllingpart of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events andinterface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages;downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sentvia AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM mayrefer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” mayrefer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables theexchange of PDUs between a UE 1001 and a data network (DN) 1003identified by a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be establishedupon UE 1001 request, modified upon UE 1001 and 5GC 1020 request, andreleased upon UE 1001 and 5GC 1020 request using NAS SM signalingexchanged over the N1 reference point between the UE 1001 and the SMF1024. Upon request from an application server, the 5GC 1020 may triggera specific application in the UE 1001. In response to receipt of thetrigger message, the UE 1001 may pass the trigger message (or relevantparts/information of the trigger message) to one or more identifiedapplications in the UE 1001. The identified application(s) in the UE1001 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF 1024 maycheck whether the UE 1001 requests are compliant with user subscriptioninformation associated with the UE 1001. In this regard, the SMF 1024may retrieve and/or request to receive update notifications on SMF 1024level subscription data from the UDM 1027.

The SMF 1024 may include the following roaming functionality: handlinglocal enforcement to apply QoS SLAB (VPLMN); charging data collectionand charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM eventsand interface to LI system); and support for interaction with externalDN for transport of signalling for PDU sessionauthorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference pointbetween two SMFs 1024 may be included in the system 1000, which may bebetween another SMF 1024 in a visited network and the SMF 1024 in thehome network in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF 1024 mayexhibit the Nsmf service-based interface.

The NEF 1023 may provide means for securely exposing the services andcapabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party,internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF 1028),edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, theNEF 1023 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF 1023may also translate information exchanged with the AF 1028 andinformation exchanged with internal network functions. For example, theNEF 1023 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal5GC information. NEF 1023 may also receive information from othernetwork functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other networkfunctions. This information may be stored at the NEF 1023 as structureddata, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The storedinformation can then be re-exposed by the NEF 1023 to other NFs and AFs,and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF1023 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 1025 may support service discovery functions, receive NFdiscovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of thediscovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 1025 also maintainsinformation of available NF instances and their supported services. Asused herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like mayrefer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 1025 may exhibit theNnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 1026 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) toenforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to governnetwork behaviour. The PCF 1026 may also implement an FE to accesssubscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of theUDM 1027. The PCF 1026 may communicate with the AMF 1021 via an N15reference point between the PCF 1026 and the AMF 1021, which may includea PCF 1026 in a visited network and the AMF 1021 in case of roamingscenarios. The PCF 1026 may communicate with the AF 1028 via an N5reference point between the PCF 1026 and the AF 1028; and with the SMF1024 via an N7 reference point between the PCF 1026 and the SMF 1024.The system 1000 and/or CN 1020 may also include an N24 reference pointbetween the PCF 1026 (in the home network) and a PCF 1026 in a visitednetwork. Additionally, the PCF 1026 may exhibit an Npcf service-basedinterface.

The UDM 1027 may handle subscription-related information to support thenetwork entities' handling of communication sessions, and may storesubscription data of UE 1001. For example, subscription data may becommunicated between the UDM 1027 and the AMF 1021 via an N8 referencepoint between the UDM 1027 and the AMF. The UDM 1027 may include twoparts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by FIG.10). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM1027 and the PCF 1026, and/or structured data for exposure andapplication data (including PFDs for application detection, applicationrequest information for multiple UEs 1001) for the NEF 1023. The Nudrservice-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM1027, PCF 1026, and NEF 1023 to access a particular set of the storeddata, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, andsubscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDMmay include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials,location management, subscription management and so on. Severaldifferent front ends may serve the same user in different transactions.The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR andperforms authentication credential processing, user identificationhandling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, andsubscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF 1024 via anN10 reference point between the UDM 1027 and the SMF 1024. UDM 1027 mayalso support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similarapplication logic as discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM 1027may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

The AF 1028 may provide application influence on traffic routing,provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework forpolicy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 1020 andAF 1028 to provide information to each other via NEF 1023, which may beused for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, thenetwork operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE1001 access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service deliverythrough the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transportnetwork. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF1002 close to the UE 1001 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 1002to DN 1003 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UEsubscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 1028.In this way, the AF 1028 may influence UPF (re)selection and trafficrouting. Based on operator deployment, when AF 1028 is considered to bea trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 1028 to interactdirectly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 1028 may exhibit an Nafservice-based interface.

The NSSF 1029 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE1001. The NSSF 1029 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping tothe subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 1029 may also determine theAMF set to be used to serve the UE 1001, or a list of candidate AMF(s)1021 based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF1025. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 1001may be triggered by the AMF 1021 with which the UE 1001 is registered byinteracting with the NSSF 1029, which may lead to a change of AMF 1021.The NSSF 1029 may interact with the AMF 1021 via an N22 reference pointbetween AMF 1021 and NSSF 1029; and may communicate with another NSSF1029 in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by FIG.10). Additionally, the NSSF 1029 may exhibit an Nnssf service-basedinterface.

As discussed previously, the CN 1020 may include an SMSF, which may beresponsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relayingSM messages to/from the UE 1001 to/from other entities, such as anSMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF 1021 andUDM 1027 for a notification procedure that the UE 1001 is available forSMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM 1027when UE 1001 is available for SMS).

The CN 120 may also include other elements that are not shown by FIG.10, such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, andthe like. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/orthe like. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from theUDSF (e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and theUDSF (not shown by FIG. 10). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storingtheir respective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have theirown UDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSFmay exhibit an Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by FIG. 10). The5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determiningwhether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network;and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topologyhiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control planeinterfaces.

Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/orservice-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however,these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from FIG. 10 forclarity. In one example, the CN 1020 may include an Nx interface, whichis an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME 921) and the AMF1021 in order to enable interworking between CN 1020 and CN 920. Otherexample interfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-basedinterface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRFin the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF inthe home network.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment 1100 inaccordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment 1100(or “system 1100”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RANnode such as the RAN nodes 811 and/or AP 806 shown and describedpreviously, application server(s) 830, and/or any other element/devicediscussed herein. In other examples, the system 1100 could beimplemented in or by a UE.

The system 1100 includes application circuitry 1105, baseband circuitry1110, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 1115, memory circuitry1120, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 1125, power teecircuitry 1130, network controller circuitry 1135, network interfaceconnector 1140, satellite positioning circuitry 1145, and user interface1150. In some embodiments, the device 1100 may include additionalelements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor,or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the componentsdescribed below may be included in more than one device. For example,said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device forCRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations.

Application circuitry 1105 includes circuitry such as, but not limitedto one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers,serial interfaces such as SPI, I²C or universal programmable serialinterface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters includinginterval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO),memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC)or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile IndustryProcessor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG)test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 1105 may be coupled with or may include memory/storageelements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 1100. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 1105 may include, for example,one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors,one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISCMachine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing(CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one ormore FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or moremicroprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the application circuitry 1105 may comprise, or maybe, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to thevarious embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of applicationcircuitry 1105 may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon®processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s),Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-basedprocessor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-Afamily of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; aMIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS WarriorP-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system1100 may not utilize application circuitry 1105, and instead may includea special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received froman EPC or 5GC, for example.

In some implementations, the application circuitry 1105 may include oneor more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors,programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardwareaccelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deeplearning (DL) accelerators. As examples, the programmable processingdevices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such asfield-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logicdevices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs(HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like;programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, thecircuitry of application circuitry 1105 may comprise logic blocks orlogic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmedto perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods,functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In suchembodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 1105 may includememory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM),anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc.in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like.

The baseband circuitry 1110 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 1110 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 13.

User interface circuitry 1150 may include one or more user interfacesdesigned to enable user interaction with the system 1100 or peripheralcomponent interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interactionwith the system 1100. User interfaces may include, but are not limitedto, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), oneor more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physicalkeyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers orother audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, aheadset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral componentinterfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memoryport, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

The radio front end modules (RFEMs) 1115 may comprise a millimeter wave(mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integratedcircuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWaveRFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs mayinclude connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g.,antenna array 1311 of Figure XT infra), and the RFEM may be connected tomultiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave andsub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM1115, which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 1120 may include one or more of volatile memoryincluding dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®. Memory circuitry 1120 may be implemented as one or more ofsolder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules andplug-in memory cards.

The PMIC 1125 may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, poweralarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such asa battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detectone or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage)conditions. The power tee circuitry 1130 may provide for electricalpower drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and dataconnectivity to the infrastructure equipment 1100 using a single cable.

The network controller circuitry 1135 may provide connectivity to anetwork using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet,Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching(MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may beprovided to/from the infrastructure equipment 1100 via network interfaceconnector 1140 using a physical connection, which may be electrical(commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless.The network controller circuitry 1135 may include one or more dedicatedprocessors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of theaforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the networkcontroller circuitry 1135 may include multiple controllers to provideconnectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

The positioning circuitry 1145 includes circuitry to receive and decodesignals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satelliteconstellations (or GNSS) include United States' Global PositioningSystem (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the EuropeanUnion's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, aregional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigationwith Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System(QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integratedby Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry 1145comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devicessuch as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like tofacilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of apositioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes.In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 1145 may include aMicro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) ICthat uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimationwithout GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 1145 may also be partof, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 1110 and/or RFEMs 1115 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 1145 may also provide position data and/ortime data to the application circuitry 1105, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes 811,etc.), or the like.

The components shown by FIG. 11 may communicate with one another usinginterface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/orinterconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture(ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI),peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe),or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietarybus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems maybe included, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point to pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a platform 1200 (or “device 1200”) inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computerplatform 1200 may be suitable for use as UEs 801 901, applicationservers 830, and/or any other element/device discussed herein. Theplatform 1200 may include any combinations of the components shown inthe example. The components of platform 1200 may be implemented asintegrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronicdevices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof adapted in the computer platform 1200, or ascomponents otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system.The block diagram of FIG. 12 is intended to show a high level view ofcomponents of the computer platform 1200. However, some of thecomponents shown may be omitted, additional components may be present,and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in otherimplementations.

Application circuitry 1205 includes circuitry such as, but not limitedto one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I²Cor universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-countersincluding interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory cardcontrollers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces,and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 1205 may be coupled with or may include memory/storageelements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 1200. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 1105 may include, for example,one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one ormore GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, oneor more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or morePLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, some other known processing element, or any suitablecombination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 1105may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller tooperate according to the various embodiments herein.

As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 1205 may includean Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, anAtom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another suchprocessor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. Theprocessors of the application circuitry 1205 may also be one or more ofAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or AcceleratedProcessing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.,Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., TexasInstruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such asMIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors;an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARMCortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. Insome implementations, the application circuitry 1205 may be a part of asystem on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 1205 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel®Corporation.

Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 1205 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmabledevices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices(PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), andthe like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs(PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of applicationcircuitry 1205 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and otherinterconnected resources that may be programmed to perform variousfunctions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of thevarious embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitryof application circuitry 1205 may include memory cells (e.g., erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory(e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used tostore logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs)and the like.

The baseband circuitry 1210 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 1210 arediscussed infra with regard to Figure XT.

The RFEMs 1215 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one ormore sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In someimplementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physicallyseparated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to oneor more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 1311 ofFigure XT infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. Inalternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functionsmay be implemented in the same physical RFEM 1215, which incorporatesboth mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 1220 may include any number and type of memorydevices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. Asexamples, the memory circuitry 1220 may include one or more of volatilememory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/orsynchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry 1220 may bedeveloped in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices EngineeringCouncil (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such asLPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry 1220 may beimplemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits,single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package(Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs)including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboardvia a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memorycircuitry 1220 may be on-die memory or registers associated with theapplication circuitry 1205. To provide for persistent storage ofinformation such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth,memory circuitry 1220 may include one or more mass storage devices,which may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), harddisk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase changememories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. Forexample, the computer platform 1200 may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®.

Removable memory circuitry 1223 may include devices, circuitry,enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portabledata storage devices with the platform 1200. These portable data storagedevices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, forexample, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSDcards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, opticaldiscs, external HDDs, and the like.

The platform 1200 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) thatis used to connect external devices with the platform 1200. The externaldevices connected to the platform 1200 via the interface circuitryinclude sensor circuitry 1221 and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)1222, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memorycircuitry 1223.

The sensor circuitry 1221 include devices, modules, or subsystems whosepurpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send theinformation (sensor data) about the detected events to some other adevice, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, interalia, inertia measurement units (IMUS) comprising accelerometers,gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axisaccelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors;flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors;barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capturedevices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiationdetector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonictransceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

EMCs 1222 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is toenable platform 1200 to change its state, position, and/or orientation,or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 1222may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to othercomponents of the platform 1200 to indicate a current state of the EMCs1222. Examples of the EMCs 1222 include one or more power switches,relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid staterelays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible soundgenerator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, steppermotors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks,and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments,platform 1200 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 1222 based onone or more captured events and/or instructions or control signalsreceived from a service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1200 with positioning circuitry 1245. The positioning circuitry1245 includes circuitry to receive and decode signalstransmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples ofnavigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States'GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China'sBeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSSaugmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.),or the like. The positioning circuitry 1245 comprises various hardwareelements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTAcommunications) to communicate with components of a positioning network,such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments,the positioning circuitry 1245 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses amaster timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSSassistance. The positioning circuitry 1245 may also be part of, orinteract with, the baseband circuitry 1110 and/or RFEMs 1215 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 1245 may also provide position data and/ortime data to the application circuitry 1205, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio basestations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1200 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 1240. NFCcircuitry 1240 is configured to provide contactless, short-rangecommunications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards,wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication betweenNFC circuitry 1240 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 1200(e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry 1240 comprises an NFCcontroller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled withthe NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFCfunctionalities to the NFC circuitry 1240 by executing NFC controllerfirmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by theprocessor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmwaremay be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element toemit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag(e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmitstored data to the NFC circuitry 1240, or initiate data transfer betweenthe NFC circuitry 1240 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphoneor an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 1200.

The driver circuitry 1246 may include software and hardware elementsthat operate to control particular devices that are embedded in theplatform 1200, attached to the platform 1200, or otherwisecommunicatively coupled with the platform 1200. The driver circuitry1246 may include individual drivers allowing other components of theplatform 1200 to interact with or control various input/output (I/O)devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform 1200.For example, driver circuitry 1246 may include a display driver tocontrol and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver tocontrol and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform1200, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 1221and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 1221, EMC drivers toobtain actuator positions of the EMCs 1222 and/or control and allowaccess to the EMCs 1222, a camera driver to control and allow access toan embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allowaccess to one or more audio devices.

The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 1225 (also referred toas “power management circuitry 1225”) may manage power provided tovarious components of the platform 1200. In particular, with respect tothe baseband circuitry 1210, the PMIC 1225 may control power-sourceselection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.The PMIC 1225 may often be included when the platform 1200 is capable ofbeing powered by a battery 1230, for example, when the device isincluded in a UE 801, 901.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 1225 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the platform 1200. For example, ifthe platform 1200 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is stillconnected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, thenit may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after aperiod of inactivity. During this state, the platform 1200 may powerdown for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is nodata traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform1200 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where it disconnects fromthe network and does not perform operations such as channel qualityfeedback, handover, etc. The platform 1200 goes into a very low powerstate and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up tolisten to the network and then powers down again. The platform 1200 maynot receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving modemay allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longerthan a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). Duringthis time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and maypower down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a largedelay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 1230 may power the platform 1200, although in some examplesthe platform 1200 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and mayhave a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 1230 maybe a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-airbattery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like.In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 1230may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 1230 may be a “smart battery,”which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) orbattery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in theplatform 1200 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 1230.The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 1230 toprovide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and thestate of function (SoF) of the battery 1230. The BMS may communicate theinformation of the battery 1230 to the application circuitry 1205 orother components of the platform 1200. The BMS may also include ananalog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry1205 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 1230 or the currentflow from the battery 1230. The battery parameters may be used todetermine actions that the platform 1200 may perform, such astransmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and thelike.

A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid maybe coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 1230. In some examples,the power block XS30 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver toobtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in thecomputer platform 1200. In these examples, a wireless battery chargingcircuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuitschosen may depend on the size of the battery 1230, and thus, the currentrequired. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standardpromulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standardpromulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence chargingstandard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

User interface circuitry 1250 includes various input/output (I/O)devices present within, or connected to, the platform 1200, and includesone or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with theplatform 1200 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enableperipheral component interaction with the platform 1200. The userinterface circuitry 1250 includes input device circuitry and outputdevice circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or morephysical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard,keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset,and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for showing information or otherwise conveyinginformation, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or otherlike information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/orcombinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one ormore simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs,or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g.,Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays,projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimediaobjects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation ofthe platform 1200. The output device circuitry may also include speakersor other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In someembodiments, the sensor circuitry 1221 may be used as the input devicecircuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or thelike) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In anotherexample, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with anantenna element and a processing device may be included to readelectronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, anon-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

Although not shown, the components of platform 1200 may communicate withone another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, whichmay include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx,PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or anynumber of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX,for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may beincluded, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 13 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 1310 andradio front end modules (RFEM) 1315 in accordance with variousembodiments. The baseband circuitry 1310 corresponds to the basebandcircuitry 1110 and 1210 of FIGS. 11 and 12, respectively. The RFEM 1315corresponds to the RFEM 1115 and 1215 of FIGS. 11 and 12, respectively.As shown, the RFEMs 1315 may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry1306, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1308, antenna array 1311 coupledtogether at least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 1310 includes circuitry and/or control logicconfigured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio controlfunctions that enable communication with one or more radio networks viathe RF circuitry 1306. The radio control functions may include, but arenot limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 1310 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality.

In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the basebandcircuitry 1310 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo,Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoderfunctionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation andencoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and mayinclude other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The basebandcircuitry 1310 is configured to process baseband signals received from areceive signal path of the RF circuitry 1306 and to generate basebandsignals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1306. Thebaseband circuitry 1310 is configured to interface with applicationcircuitry 1105/1205 (see FIGS. 11 and 12) for generation and processingof the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RFcircuitry 1306. The baseband circuitry 1310 may handle various radiocontrol functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the basebandcircuitry 1310 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G basebandprocessor 1304A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 1304B, a 5G/NR basebandprocessor 1304C, or some other baseband processor(s) 1304D for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments,some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1304A-D may beincluded in modules stored in the memory 1304G and executed via aCentral Processing Unit (CPU) 1304E. In other embodiments, some or allof the functionality of baseband processors 1304A-D may be provided ashardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with theappropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memorycells. In various embodiments, the memory 1304G may store program codeof a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 1304E (or otherbaseband processor), is to cause the CPU 1304E (or other basebandprocessor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry 1310, scheduletasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded(OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®,Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®,ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided byQualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any othersuitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the basebandcircuitry 1310 includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s)(DSP) 1304F. The audio DSP(s) 1304F include elements forcompression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include othersuitable processing elements in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, each of the processors 1304A-1304E includerespective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory1304G. The baseband circuitry 1310 may further include one or moreinterfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, suchas an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to thebaseband circuitry 1310; an application circuitry interface tosend/receive data to/from the application circuitry 1105/1205 of FIGS.11-13); an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RFcircuitry 1306 of FIG. 13; a wireless hardware connectivity interface tosend/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g.,Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® LowEnergy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a powermanagement interface to send/receive power or control signals to/fromthe PMIC 1225.

In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above describedembodiments), baseband circuitry 1310 comprises one or more digitalbaseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnectsubsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interfacesubsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to adigital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem viaanother interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems mayinclude a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology,such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSPcircuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing acceleratorcircuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one ormore of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In anaspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 1310 may includeprotocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of controlcircuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digitalbaseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radiofront end modules 1315).

Although not shown by FIG. 13, in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 1310 includes individual processing device(s) to operate oneor more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocolbaseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individualprocessing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In theseembodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radiocontrol functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processingcircuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of oneor more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, theprotocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry 1310 and/or RFcircuitry 1306 are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some othersuitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, theprotocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC,and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processingcircuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the basebandcircuitry 1310 and/or RF circuitry 1306 are part of a Wi-Ficommunication system. In the second example, the protocol processingcircuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC)functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or morememory structures (e.g., 1304G) to store program code and data foroperating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processingcores to execute the program code and perform various operations usingthe data. The baseband circuitry 1310 may also support radiocommunications for more than one wireless protocol.

The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 1310 discussedherein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrateincluding one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged ICsoldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing twoor more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry1310 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposedon a same circuit board. In another example, some or all of theconstituent components of the baseband circuitry 1310 and RF circuitry1306 may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on achip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or allof the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1310 may beimplemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with andRF circuitry 1306 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 1306). In yetanother example, some or all of the constituent components of thebaseband circuitry 1310 and the application circuitry 1105/1205 may beimplemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board(e.g., a “multi-chip package”).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1310 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1310 may supportcommunication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodimentsin which the baseband circuitry 1310 is configured to support radiocommunications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to asmulti-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 1306 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include switches,filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with thewireless network. RF circuitry 1306 may include a receive signal path,which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from theFEM circuitry 1308 and provide baseband signals to the basebandcircuitry 1310. RF circuitry 1306 may also include a transmit signalpath, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signalsprovided by the baseband circuitry 1310 and provide RF output signals tothe FEM circuitry 1308 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1306may include mixer circuitry 1306 a, amplifier circuitry 1306 b andfilter circuitry 1306 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal pathof the RF circuitry 1306 may include filter circuitry 1306 c and mixercircuitry 1306 a. RF circuitry 1306 may also include synthesizercircuitry 1306 d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixercircuitry 1306 a of the receive signal path and the transmit signalpath. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306 a of the receivesignal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received fromthe FEM circuitry 1308 based on the synthesized frequency provided bysynthesizer circuitry 1306 d. The amplifier circuitry 1306 b may beconfigured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filtercircuitry 1306 c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter(BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-convertedsignals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals maybe provided to the baseband circuitry 1310 for further processing. Insome embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequencybaseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In someembodiments, mixer circuitry 1306 a of the receive signal path maycomprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is notlimited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1306 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1308. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1310 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 1306 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 1306 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 1306 a of the receive signal path and the mixercircuitry 1306 a of the transmit signal path may include two or moremixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley imagerejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1306 a of thereceive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306 a of the transmitsignal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and directupconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry1306 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1306 a of thetransmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 1306 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry1310 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 1306.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1306 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 1306 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 1306 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1306 a of the RFcircuitry 1306 based on a frequency input and a divider control input.In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1306 d may be afractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1310 orthe application circuitry 1105/1205 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplication circuitry 1105/1205.

Synthesizer circuitry 1306 d of the RF circuitry 1306 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1306 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 1306 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 1308 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antennaarray 1311, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1306 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 1308 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 1306 for transmission by oneor more of antenna elements of antenna array 1311. In variousembodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signalpaths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1306, solely in the FEMcircuitry 1308, or in both the RF circuitry 1306 and the FEM circuitry1308.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1308 may include a TX/RX switchto switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 1308 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1308 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1306). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 1308 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1306), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmissionby one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1311.

The antenna array 1311 comprises one or more antenna elements, each ofwhich is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves totravel through the air and to convert received radio waves intoelectrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided bythe baseband circuitry 1310 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g.,modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via theantenna elements of the antenna array 1311 including one or more antennaelements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional,direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formedin a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. Theantenna array 1311 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennasthat are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuitboards. The antenna array 1311 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled withthe RF circuitry 1306 and/or FEM circuitry 1308 using metal transmissionlines or the like.

Processors of the application circuitry 1105/1205 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 1310 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 1310, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 1105/1205 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received fromthese layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP andUDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer,described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 maycomprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described infurther detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHYlayer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 14 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implementedin a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. Inparticular, FIG. 14 includes an arrangement 1400 showinginterconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The followingdescription of FIG. 14 is provided for various protocol layers/entitiesthat operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTEsystem standards, but some or all of the aspects of FIG. 14 may beapplicable to other wireless communication network systems as well.

The protocol layers of arrangement 1400 may include one or more of PHY1410, MAC 1420, RLC 1430, PDCP 1440, SDAP 1447, RRC 1455, and NAS layer1457, in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. Theprotocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g.,items 1459, 1456, 1450, 1449, 1445, 1435, 1425, and 1415 in FIG. 14)that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

The PHY 1410 may transmit and receive physical layer signals 1405 thatmay be received from or transmitted to one or more other communicationdevices. The physical layer signals 1405 may comprise one or morephysical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY 1410 mayfurther perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC),power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization andhandover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, suchas the RRC 1455. The PHY 1410 may still further perform error detectionon the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation ofphysical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physicalchannels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance ofPHY 1410 may process requests from and provide indications to aninstance of MAC 1420 via one or more PHY-SAP 1415. According to someembodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP 1415 maycomprise one or more transport channels.

Instance(s) of MAC 1420 may process requests from, and provideindications to, an instance of RLC 1430 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1425.These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP 1425 maycomprise one or more logical channels. The MAC 1420 may perform mappingbetween the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MACSDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY1410 via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or morelogical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY 1410 via transportchannels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channelprioritization.

Instance(s) of RLC 1430 may process requests from and provideindications to an instance of PDCP 1440 via one or more radio linkcontrol service access points (RLC-SAP) 1435. These requests andindications communicated via RLC-SAP 1435 may comprise one or more RLCchannels. The RLC 1430 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation,including: Transparent Mode™, Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and AcknowledgedMode (AM). The RLC 1430 may execute transfer of upper layer protocoldata units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request(ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation andreassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC 1430 mayalso execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers,reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicatedata for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM datatransfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLCre-establishment.

Instance(s) of PDCP 1440 may process requests from and provideindications to instance(s) of RRC 1455 and/or instance(s) of SDAP 1447via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points(PDCP-SAP) 1445. These requests and indications communicated viaPDCP-SAP 1445 may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP 1440 mayexecute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCPSequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUsat re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layerSDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLCAM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protectionand integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-baseddiscard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering,deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

Instance(s) of SDAP 1447 may process requests from and provideindications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one ormore SDAP-SAP 1449. These requests and indications communicated viaSDAP-SAP 1449 may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP 1447 may mapQoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and ULpackets. A single SDAP entity 1447 may be configured for an individualPDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN 810 may control the mappingof QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping orexplicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP 1447 of a UE 801 maymonitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the samemapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP1447 of the UE 801 may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s)corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DLpackets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 1010 maymark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicitmapping may involve the RRC 1455 configuring the SDAP 1447 with anexplicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followedby the SDAP 1447. In embodiments, the SDAP 1447 may only be used in NRimplementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

The RRC 1455 may configure, via one or more management service accesspoints (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which mayinclude one or more instances of PHY 1410, MAC 1420, RLC 1430, PDCP 1440and SDAP 1447. In embodiments, an instance of RRC 1455 may processrequests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities 1457via one or more RRC-SAPs 1456. The main services and functions of theRRC 1455 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included inMIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system informationrelated to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenanceand release of an RRC connection between the UE 801 and RAN 810 (e.g.,RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connectionmodification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration,maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, securityfunctions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurementconfiguration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs maycomprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fieldsor data structures.

The NAS 1457 may form the highest stratum of the control plane betweenthe UE 801 and the AMF 1021. The NAS 1457 may support the mobility ofthe UEs 801 and the session management procedures to establish andmaintain IP connectivity between the UE 801 and a P-GW in LTE systems.

According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities ofarrangement 1400 may be implemented in UEs 801, RAN nodes 811, AMF 1021in NR implementations or MME 921 in LTE implementations, UPF 1002 in NRimplementations or S-GW 922 and P-GW 923 in LTE implementations, or thelike to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocolstack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one ormore protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 801,gNB 811, AMF 1021, etc. may communicate with a respective peer protocolentity that may be implemented in or on another device using theservices of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform suchcommunication. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB 811 may host theRRC 1455, SDAP 1447, and PDCP 1440 of the gNB that controls theoperation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB 811 mayeach host the RLC 1430, MAC 1420, and PHY 1410 of the gNB 811.

In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, inorder from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS 1457, RRC 1455, PDCP 1440,RLC 1430, MAC 1420, and PHY 1410. In this example, upper layers 1460 maybe built on top of the NAS 1457, which includes an IP layer 1461, anSCTP 1462, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1463.

In NR implementations, the AP 1463 may be an NG application protocollayer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1463 for the NG interface 813 defined between theNG-RAN node 811 and the AMF 1021, or the AP 1463 may be an Xnapplication protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1463 for the Xn interface 812that is defined between two or more RAN nodes 811.

The NG-AP 1463 may support the functions of the NG interface 813 and maycomprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit ofinteraction between the NG-RAN node 811 and the AMF 1021. The NG-AP 1463services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., servicesrelated to a UE 801) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., servicesrelated to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 811and AMF 1021). These services may include functions including, but notlimited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests toNG-RAN nodes 811 involved in a particular paging area; a UE contextmanagement function for allowing the AMF 1021 to establish, modify,and/or release a UE context in the AMF 1021 and the NG-RAN node 811; amobility function for UEs 801 in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOsto support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to supportmobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function fortransporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE 801 and AMF 1021; aNAS node selection function for determining an association between theAMF 1021 and the UE 801; NG interface management function(s) for settingup the NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; awarning message transmission function for providing means to transferwarning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warningmessages; a Configuration Transfer function for requesting andtransferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information,performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 811 viaCN 820; and/or other like functions.

The XnAP 1463 may support the functions of the Xn interface 812 and maycomprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. TheXnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the NG RAN 811 (or E-UTRAN 910), such as handoverpreparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures,UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN pagingprocedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The XnAPglobal procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to aspecific UE 801, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RANupdate procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like.

In LTE implementations, the AP 1463 may be an S1 Application Protocollayer (S1-AP) 1463 for the S1 interface 813 defined between an E-UTRANnode 811 and an MME, or the AP 1463 may be an X2 application protocollayer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1463 for the X2 interface 812 that is definedbetween two or more E-UTRAN nodes 811.

The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP) 1463 may support the functionsof the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, theS1-AP may comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interactionbetween the E-UTRAN node 811 and an MME 921 within an LTE CN 820. TheS1-AP 1463 services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services andnon UE-associated services. These services perform functions including,but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UEcapability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RANInformation Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The X2AP 1463 may support the functions of the X2 interface 812 and maycomprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. TheX2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the E-UTRAN 820, such as handover preparation andcancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE contextretrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dualconnectivity related procedures, and the like. The X2AP globalprocedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE801, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indicationprocedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, andthe like.

The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 1462 mayprovide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP orXnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTEimplementations). The SCTP 1462 may ensure reliable delivery ofsignaling messages between the RAN node 811 and the AMF 1021/MME 921based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP 1461. TheInternet Protocol layer (IP) 1461 may be used to perform packetaddressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IPlayer 1461 may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and conveyPDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 811 may comprise L2 and L1 layercommunication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF toexchange information.

In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in orderfrom highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP 1447, PDCP 1440, RLC 1430, MAC1420, and PHY 1410. The user plane protocol stack may be used forcommunication between the UE 801, the RAN node 811, and UPF 1002 in NRimplementations or an S-GW 922 and P-GW 923 in LTE implementations. Inthis example, upper layers 1451 may be built on top of the SDAP 1447,and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer(UDP/IP) 1452, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocolfor the user plane layer (GTP-U) 1453, and a User Plane PDU layer (UPPDU) 1463.

The transport network layer 1454 (also referred to as a “transportlayer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U 1453 may be used ontop of the UDP/IP layer 1452 (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) tocarry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the“Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routingfunctionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packetsin any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example.

The GTP-U 1453 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS corenetwork and between the radio access network and the core network. Theuser data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPPformats, for example. The UDP/IP 1452 may provide checksums for dataintegrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the sourceand destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected dataflows. The RAN node 811 and the S-GW 922 may utilize an S1-U interfaceto exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer(e.g., PHY 1410), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1420, RLC 1430, PDCP 1440,and/or SDAP 1447), the UDP/IP layer 1452, and the GTP-U 1453. The S-GW922 and the P-GW 923 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange userplane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, theUDP/IP layer 1452, and the GTP-U 1453. As discussed previously, NASprotocols may support the mobility of the UE 801 and the sessionmanagement procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity betweenthe UE 801 and the P-GW 923.

Moreover, although not shown by FIG. 14, an application layer may bepresent above the AP 1463 and/or the transport network layer 1454. Theapplication layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE 801, RAN node811, or other network element interacts with software applications beingexecuted, for example, by application circuitry 1105 or applicationcircuitry 1205, respectively. The application layer may also provide oneor more interfaces for software applications to interact withcommunications systems of the UE 801 or RAN node 811, such as thebaseband circuitry 1310. In some implementations the IP layer and/or theapplication layer may provide the same or similar functionality aslayers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection(OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—thepresentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer).

FIG. 15 illustrates components of a core network in accordance withvarious embodiments. The components of the CN 920 may be implemented inone physical node or separate physical nodes including components toread and execute instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium). In embodiments, the components of CN 1020 may beimplemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regardto the components of CN 920. In some embodiments, NFV is utilized tovirtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions viaexecutable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storagemediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation ofthe CN 920 may be referred to as a network slice 1501, and individuallogical instantiations of the CN 920 may provide specific networkcapabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of aportion of the CN 920 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1502(e.g., the network sub-slice 1502 is shown to include the P-GW 923 andthe PCRF 926).

As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the likemay refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer toa concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. A network instance may refer to informationidentifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection androuting in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. Anetwork slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs)instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networkingresources) required to deploy the network slice.

With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g., FIG. 10), a network slice alwayscomprises a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicingrelies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled bydifferent PDU sessions. The network can realize the different networkslices by scheduling and also by providing different L1/L2configurations. The UE 1001 provides assistance information for networkslice selection in an appropriate RRC message, if it has been providedby NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UEneed not support more than 8 slices simultaneously.

A network slice may include the CN 1020 control plane and user planeNFs, NG-RANs 1010 in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in theserving PLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAIand/or may have different SSTs. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, andeach network slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slicesmay differ for supported features and network functions optimizations,and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the sameservice/features but for different groups of UEs 1001 (e.g., enterpriseusers). For example, individual network slices may deliver differentcommitted service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer orenterprise. In this example, each network slice may have differentS-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators.Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network sliceinstances simultaneously via a 5G AN and associated with eight differentS-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF 1021 instance serving an individual UE 1001may belong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE.

Network Slicing in the NG-RAN 1010 involves RAN slice awareness. RANslice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic fordifferent network slices, which have been pre-configured. Sliceawareness in the NG-RAN 1010 is introduced at the PDU session level byindicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signalingthat includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN 1010supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the setof network functions that comprise each slice) is implementationdependent. The NG-RAN 1010 selects the RAN part of the network sliceusing assistance information provided by the UE 1001 or the 5GC 1020,which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured networkslices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN 1010 also supports resource managementand policy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN nodemay support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN 1010 may also apply anappropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. TheNG-RAN 1010 may also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

The NG-RAN 1010 may also use the UE assistance information for theselection of an AMF 1021 during an initial attach, if available. TheNG-RAN 1010 uses the assistance information for routing the initial NASto an AMF 1021. If the NG-RAN 1010 is unable to select an AMF 1021 usingthe assistance information, or the UE 1001 does not provide any suchinformation, the NG-RAN 1010 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF1021, which may be among a pool of AMFs 1021. For subsequent accesses,the UE 1001 provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE 1001 by the5GC 1020, to enable the NG-RAN 1010 to route the NAS message to theappropriate AMF 1021 as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN 1010 isaware of, and can reach, the AMF 1021 that is associated with the tempID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

The NG-RAN 1010 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 1010resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies andprotection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of sharedresources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for anotherslice. In some implementations, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN1010 resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN 1010 supports resourceisolation is implementation dependent.

Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness inthe NG-RAN 1010 of the slices supported in the cells of its neighborsmay be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Theslice availability may not change within the UE's registration area. TheNG-RAN 1010 and the 5GC 1020 are responsible to handle a service requestfor a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admissionor rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as supportfor the slice, availability of resources, support of the requestedservice by NG-RAN 1010.

The UE 1001 may be associated with multiple network slicessimultaneously. In case the UE 1001 is associated with multiple slicessimultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and forintra-frequency cell reselection, the UE 1001 tries to camp on the bestcell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can beused to control the frequency on which the UE 1001 camps. The 5GC 1020is to validate that the UE 1001 has the rights to access a networkslice. Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, theNG-RAN 1010 may be allowed to apply some provisional/local policies,based on awareness of a particular slice that the UE 1001 is requestingto access. During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN 1010 is informedof the slice for which resources are being requested.

NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one ormore NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physicalresources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware,storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be usedto execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, of a system 1600 to support NFV. The system 1600 isillustrated as including a VIM 1602, an NFVI 1604, an VNFM 1606, VNFs1608, an EM 1610, an NFVO 1612, and a NM 1614.

The VIM 1602 manages the resources of the NFVI 1604. The NFVI 1604 caninclude physical or virtual resources and applications (includinghypervisors) used to execute the system 1600. The VIM 1602 may managethe life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI 1604 (e.g., creation,maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physicalresources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security ofVM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instancesand associated physical resources to other management systems.

The VNFM 1606 may manage the VNFs 1608. The VNFs 1608 may be used toexecute EPC components/functions. The VNFM 1606 may manage the lifecycle of the VNFs 1608 and track performance, fault and security of thevirtual aspects of VNFs 1608. The EM 1610 may track the performance,fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs 1608. The trackingdata from the VNFM 1606 and the EM 1610 may comprise, for example, PMdata used by the VIM 1602 or the NFVI 1604. Both the VNFM 1606 and theEM 1610 can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system 1600.

The NFVO 1612 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources ofthe NFVI 1604 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., toexecute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 1614 may provide apackage of end-user functions with the responsibility for the managementof a network, which may include network elements with VNFs,non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs mayoccur via the EM 1610).

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 17 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 1700 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 1710, one or more memory/storage devices1720, and one or more communication resources 1730, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 1740. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1702 may beexecuted to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1700.

The processors 1710 may include, for example, a processor 1712 and aprocessor 1714. The processor(s) 1710 may be, for example, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, agraphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, anASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), anotherprocessor (including those discussed herein), or any suitablecombination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 1720 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1720 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1730 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1704 or one or more databases 1706 via anetwork 1708. For example, the communication resources 1730 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellularcommunication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® LowEnergy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents.

Instructions 1750 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1710 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1750 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 1710 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1720, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1750 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1700 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1704 or the databases 1706.Accordingly, the memory of processors 1710, the memory/storage devices1720, the peripheral devices 1704, and the databases 1706 are examplesof computer-readable and machine-readable media.

In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s),chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, ofFIGS. 8-17, or some other figure herein, may be configured to performone or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, orportions thereof. For instance, FIG. 18 depicts an example method 1800of configuring RSSI resources for CLI measurements. At 1802, the method1800 can include receiving, or causing to receive, a RSSI measurementresource configuration for CLI measurement. At 1804, the method 1800 caninclude processing, or causing to process, the RSSI measurement resourceconfiguration. The RSSI measurement resource configuration can includeID IEs, slot-level indication IEs, symbol level indication IEs, PRBlevel indication IEs, RE pattern indication IEs, and receive beamindication IEs.

FIG. 19 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 1900 of performingCLI measurements based at least in part on a received RSSI resourceconfiguration. The method includes receiving, by a UE, a RSSI resourceconfiguration for crosslink interference (CLI) measurement from a basestation in a 5G network (1902). The method further includes measuring,by the UE, a RSSI of one or more received signals based at least in parton the received RSSI resource configuration (1904). The method furtherincludes performing, by the UE, one or more CLI measurements based atleast in part on the measured RSSI (1906).

FIG. 20 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 1900 of performingCLI measurements based at least in part on a RSSI resourceconfiguration. The method includes determining, by a base station in a5G network, a RSSI resource configuration for crosslink interference(CLI) measurement (2002). The method further includes measuring, by thebase station, a RSSI of one or more received signals based at least inpart on the determined RSSI resource configuration (2004). The methodfurther includes performing, by the base station, one or more CLImeasurements based at least in part on the measured RSSI (2006).

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth inone or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one ormore operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth inthe example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry asdescribed above in connection with one or more of the preceding figuresmay be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of theexamples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated witha UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above inconnection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configuredto operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forthbelow in the example section.

Examples

Example 1 may include an RSSI measurement resource configurationcontaining the following IEs:

-   -   ID: identify a RSSI measurement resource configuration    -   Slot-level indication: indicating the time-domain patter of a        RSSI measurement resource    -   Symbol-level indication: indicating OFDM symbols for RSSI        measurement    -   PRB-level indication: indicating PRBs for RSSI measurement    -   RE-pattern indication: indicating configured REs for RSSI        measurement    -   Receive beam indication: indicating receive beam for RSSI        measurement in FR2

Example 2 may include an RSSI measurement resource that can beconfigured as periodic or semi-persistent. Slot-level indicationconfigures slot-level periodicity and offset for a RSSI measurementresource.

Example 3 may define three options for symbol-level indication:

-   -   Option 1: SLIV    -   Option 2: startSymbol and nrofSymbols    -   Option 3: Bitmap to support continuous symbols        -   Option 3-1: 14-bit length bitmap for all OFDM symbols in a            slot        -   Option 3-2: 6-bit length bitmap for the last 6 OFDM symbols            in a slot

Example 4 may define two options for PRB-level indication:

-   -   Option 1: RIV    -   Option 2: Bitmap to support non-contiguous resource blocks        -   rgb-Size is defined to reduce signaling overhead

Example 5 may include one or more RE patterns that are configured for asingle RSSI measurement resource, and RSSI is measured over the union ofall RE patterns:

-   -   Every RE pattern is a choice from comb-1, comb-2, and comb-4.    -   Comb offset is indicated in RE pattern for comb-2 and comb-4

Example 6 may include a receive beam configured for periodic andsemi-persistent RSSI measurement resource configuration:

-   -   RRC configured receive beam is overwritten by receive beam        indication in activation MAC-CE for semi-persistent RSSI        measurement    -   RRC configured receive beam is overwritten by active DL receive        beam for both periodic and semi-persistent RSSI measurement        -   The receive beam of RSSI measurement is the same receive            beam used for PDSCH reception, if RSSI measurement is            multiplexed with PDSCH        -   The receive beam of RSSI measurement is the same receive            beam used for PDSCH reception, if there is a PDSCH preceding            RSSI measurement in the slot        -   The receive beam of RSSI measurement is the same receive            beam used for PDCCH reception or CORESET monitoring, if            there is no PDSCH prior to RSSI measurement in the slot.

Example 7 includes an apparatus comprising:

means to receive a RSSI measurement resource configuration for CLImeasurement; and

means to process the RSSI measurement resource configuration,

wherein the RSSI measurement resource configuration includes an ID IE, aslot-level indication IE, a symbol level indication IE, a PRB levelindication IE, a RE pattern indication IE, and a receive beam indicationIE.

Example 8 includes the subject matter of example 7, or some otherexample herein, wherein the symbol level indication IE indicates one ormore OFDM symbols for RSSI measurement within a configured slot.

Example 9 includes the subject matter of example 7 or 8, or some otherexample herein, wherein the PRB level indication IE indicates one ormore PRBs for RSSI measurement within an active DL BWP.

Example 10 includes the subject matter of any of examples 7-9, or someother example herein, wherein the receive beam indication IE indicates areceive beam for RSSI measurement in FR2 and a source reference signal.

Example 11 include the subject matter of any of examples 7-10, whereinthe apparatus is a user equipment (UE) or a portion thereof.

Example 12 includes an apparatus to:

receive a RSSI measurement resource configuration for CLI measurement;and

process the RSSI measurement resource configuration,

wherein the RSSI measurement resource configuration includes an ID IE, aslot-level indication IE, a symbol level indication IE, a PRB levelindication IE, a RE pattern indication IE, and a receive beam indicationIE.

Example 13 includes the subject matter of example 12, or some otherexample herein, wherein the symbol level indication IE indicates one ormore OFDM symbols for RSSI measurement within a configured slot.

Example 14 includes the subject matter of example 12 or 13, or someother example herein, wherein the PRB level indication IE indicates oneor more PRBs for RSSI measurement within an active DL BWP.

Example 15 includes the subject matter of any of examples 12-14, or someother example herein, wherein the receive beam indication IE indicates areceive beam for RSSI measurement in FR2 and a source reference signal.

Example 16 include the subject matter of any of examples 12-15, whereinthe apparatus is a user equipment (UE) or a portion thereof.

Example 17 includes a method comprising:

receiving, or causing to receive, a RSSI measurement resourceconfiguration for CLI measurement; and

processing, or causing to process, the RSSI measurement resourceconfiguration,

wherein the RSSI measurement resource configuration includes an ID IE, aslot-level indication IE, a symbol level indication IE, a PRB levelindication IE, a RE pattern indication IE, and a receive beam indicationIE.

Example 18 includes the subject matter of example 17, or some otherexample herein, wherein the symbol level indication IE indicates one ormore OFDM symbols for RSSI measurement within a configured slot.

Example 19 includes the subject matter of example 17 or 18, or someother example herein, wherein the PRB level indication IE indicates oneor more PRBs for RSSI measurement within an active DL BWP.

Example 20 includes the subject matter of any of examples 17-19, or someother example herein, wherein the receive beam indication IE indicates areceive beam for RSSI measurement in FR2 and a source reference signal.

Example 21 include the subject matter of any of examples 17-20, whereinthe method is performed, in whole or in part, by a user equipment (UE)or a portion thereof.

Example 22 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-21, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 23 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-21, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 24 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-21, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 25 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-21, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-21, or portions thereof.

Example 27 may include a signal as described in or related to any ofexamples 1-21, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 28 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown anddescribed herein.

Example 29 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 30 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 31 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any otherexample (or combination of examples), unless explicitly statedotherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementationsprovides illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Abbreviations

For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviationsmay apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

-   -   3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project    -   4G Fourth Generation    -   5G Fifth Generation    -   5GC 5G Core network    -   ACK Acknowledgement    -   AF Application Function    -   AM Acknowledged Mode    -   AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate    -   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function    -   AN Access Network    -   ANR Automatic Neighbour Relation    -   AP Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point    -   API Application Programming Interface    -   APN Access Point Name    -   ARP Allocation and Retention Priority    -   ARQ Automatic Repeat Request    -   AS Access Stratum    -   ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One    -   AUSF Authentication Server Function    -   AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise    -   BCH Broadcast Channel    -   BER Bit Error Ratio    -   BFD Beam Failure Detection    -   BLER Block Error Rate    -   BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying    -   BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server    -   BSS Business Support System    -   BS Base Station    -   BSR Buffer Status Report    -   BW Bandwidth    -   BWP Bandwidth Part    -   C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority    -   CAPEX CAPital EXpenditure    -   CBRA Contention Based Random Access    -   CC Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum    -   CCA Clear Channel Assessment    -   CCE Control Channel Element    -   CCCH Common Control Channel    -   CE Coverage Enhancement    -   CDM Content Delivery Network    -   CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access    -   CFRA Contention Free Random Access    -   CG Cell Group    -   CI Cell Identity    -   CID Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method)    -   CIM Common Information Model    -   CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio    -   CK Cipher Key    -   CM Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory    -   CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service    -   CMD Command    -   CMS Cloud Management System    -   CO Conditional Optional    -   CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point    -   CORESET Control Resource Set    -   COTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf    -   CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point    -   CPD Connection Point Descriptor    -   CPE Customer Premise Equipment    -   CPICH Common Pilot Channel    -   CQI Channel Quality Indicator    -   CPU CSI processing unit, Central Processing Unit    -   C/R Command/Response field bit    -   CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN    -   CRB Common Resource Block    -   CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check    -   CRI Channel-State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS        Resource Indicator    -   C-RNTI Cell RNTI    -   CS Circuit Switched    -   CSAR Cloud Service Archive    -   CSI Channel-State Information    -   CSI-IM CSI Interference Measurement    -   CSI-RS CSI Reference Signal    -   CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power    -   CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal received quality    -   CSI-SINR CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio    -   CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access    -   CSMA/CA CSMA with collision avoidance    -   CSS Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space    -   CTS Clear-to-Send    -   CW Codeword    -   CWS Contention Window Size    -   D2D Device-to-Device    -   DC Dual Connectivity, Direct Current    -   DCI Downlink Control Information    -   DF Deployment Flavour    -   DL Downlink    -   DMTF Distributed Management Task Force    -   DPDK Data Plane Development Kit    -   DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal    -   DN Data network    -   DRB Data Radio Bearer    -   DRS Discovery Reference Signal    -   DRX Discontinuous Reception    -   DSL Domain Specific Language. Digital Subscriber Line    -   DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer    -   DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot    -   E-LAN Ethernet Local Area Network    -   E2E End-to-End    -   ECCA extended clear channel assessment, extended CCA    -   ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE    -   ED Energy Detection    -   EDGE Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)    -   EGMF Exposure Governance Management Function    -   EGPRS Enhanced GPRS    -   EIR Equipment Identity Register    -   eLAA enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, enhanced LAA    -   EM Element Manager    -   eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband    -   EMS Element Management System    -   eNB evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Node B    -   EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity    -   EPC Evolved Packet Core    -   EPDCCH enhanced PDCCH, enhanced Physical Downlink Control Cannel    -   EPRE Energy per resource element    -   EPS Evolved Packet System    -   EREG enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups    -   ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute    -   ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System    -   eUICC embedded UICC, embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card    -   E-UTRA Evolved UTRA    -   E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN    -   EV2X Enhanced V2X    -   F1 AP F1 Application Protocol    -   F1-C F1 Control plane interface    -   F1-U F1 User plane interface    -   FACCH Fast Associated Control CHannel    -   FACCH/F Fast Associated Control Channel/Full rate    -   FACCH/H Fast Associated Control Channel/Half rate    -   FACH Forward Access Channel    -   FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel    -   FB Functional Block    -   FBI Feedback Information    -   FCC Federal Communications Commission    -   FCCH Frequency Correction CHannel    -   FDD Frequency Division Duplex    -   FDM Frequency Division Multiplex    -   FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   FE Front End    -   FEC Forward Error Correction    -   FFS For Further Study    -   FFT Fast Fourier Transformation    -   feLAA further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, further        enhanced LAA    -   FN Frame Number    -   FPGA Field-Programmable Gate Array    -   FR Frequency Range    -   G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network    -   GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node    -   GLONASS GLObal′naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Engl.:        Global Navigation Satellite System)    -   gNB Next Generation NodeB    -   gNB-CU gNB-centralized unit, Next Generation NodeB centralized        unit    -   gNB-DU gNB-distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB distributed        unit    -   GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System    -   GPRS General Packet Radio Service    -   GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Groupe Special    -   Mobile    -   GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol    -   GTP-U GPRS Tunneling Protocol for User Plane    -   GTS Go To Sleep Signal (related to WUS)    -   GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier    -   GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity    -   HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request    -   HANDO, HO Handover    -   HFN HyperFrame Number    -   HHO Hard Handover    -   HLR Home Location Register    -   HN Home Network    -   HO Handover    -   HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network    -   HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access    -   HSN Hopping Sequence Number    -   HSPA High Speed Packet Access    -   HSS Home Subscriber Server    -   HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access    -   HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol    -   HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http/1.1        over SSL, i.e. port 443)    -   I-Block Information Block    -   ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identification    -   ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination    -   ID Identity, identifier    -   IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform    -   IE Information element    -   IBE In-Band Emission    -   IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers    -   IEI Information Element Identifier    -   IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length    -   IETF Internet Engineering Task Force    -   IF Infrastructure    -   IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia    -   IMC IMS Credentials    -   IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity    -   IMGI International mobile group identity    -   IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity    -   IMPU IP Multimedia PUblic identity    -   IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem    -   IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity    -   IoT Internet of Things    -   IP Internet Protocol    -   Ipsec IP Security, Internet Protocol Security    -   IP-CAN IP-Connectivity Access Network    -   IP-M IP Multicast    -   IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4    -   IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6    -   IR Infrared    -   IS In Sync    -   IRP Integration Reference Point    -   ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network    -   ISIM IM Services Identity Module    -   ISO International Organisation for Standardisation    -   ISP Internet Service Provider    -   IWF Interworking-Function    -   I-WLAN Interworking WLAN    -   K Constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM Individual        key    -   kB Kilobyte (1000 bytes)    -   kbps kilo-bits per second    -   Kc Ciphering key    -   Ki Individual subscriber authentication key    -   KPI Key Performance Indicator    -   KQI Key Quality Indicator    -   KSI Key Set Identifier    -   ksps kilo-symbols per second    -   KVM Kernel Virtual Machine    -   L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)    -   L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power    -   L2 Layer 2 (data link layer)    -   L3 Layer 3 (network layer)    -   LAA Licensed Assisted Access    -   LAN Local Area Network    -   LBT Listen Before Talk    -   LCM LifeCycle Management    -   LCR Low Chip Rate    -   LCS Location Services    -   LCID Logical Channel ID    -   LI Layer Indicator    -   LLC Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility    -   LPLMN Local PLMN    -   LPP LTE Positioning Protocol    -   LSB Least Significant Bit    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   LWA LTE-WLAN aggregation    -   LWIP LTE/WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   M2M Machine-to-Machine    -   MAC Medium Access Control (protocol layering context)    -   MAC Message authentication code (security/encryption context)    -   MAC-A MAC used for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3        context)    -   MAC-I MAC used for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T        WG3 context)    -   MANO Management and Orchestration    -   MBMS Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service    -   MB SFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency    -   Network    -   MCC Mobile Country Code    -   MCG Master Cell Group    -   MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time    -   MCS Modulation and coding scheme    -   MDAF Management Data Analytics Function    -   MDAS Management Data Analytics Service    -   MDT Minimization of Drive Tests    -   ME Mobile Equipment    -   MeNB master eNB    -   MER Message Error Ratio    -   MGL Measurement Gap Length    -   MGRP Measurement Gap Repetition Period    -   MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base    -   MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output    -   MLC Mobile Location Centre    -   MM Mobility Management    -   MME Mobility Management Entity    -   MN Master Node    -   MO Measurement Object, Mobile Originated    -   MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast CHannel    -   MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control CHannel    -   MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared CHannel    -   MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access CHannel    -   MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   MPLS MultiProtocol Label Switching    -   MS Mobile Station    -   MSB Most Significant Bit    -   MSC Mobile Switching Centre    -   MSI Minimum System Information, MCH Scheduling Information    -   MSID Mobile Station Identifier    -   MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number    -   MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number    -   MT Mobile Terminated, Mobile Termination    -   MTC Machine-Type Communications    -   mMTC massive MTC, massive Machine-Type Communications    -   MU-MIMO Multi User MIMO    -   MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS    -   NACK Negative Acknowledgement    -   NAI Network Access Identifier    -   NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum layer    -   NCT Network Connectivity Topology    -   NEC Network Capability Exposure    -   NE-DC NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity    -   NEF Network Exposure Function    -   NF Network Function    -   NFP Network Forwarding Path    -   NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor    -   NFV Network Functions Virtualization    -   NFVI NFV Infrastructure    -   NFVO NFV Orchestrator    -   NG Next Generation, Next Gen    -   NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity    -   NM Network Manager    -   NMS Network Management System    -   N-PoP Network Point of Presence    -   NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB    -   NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast CHannel    -   NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control CHannel    -   NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared CHannel    -   NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access CHannel    -   NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared CHannel    -   NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal    -   NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal    -   NR New Radio, Neighbour Relation    -   NRF NF Repository Function    -   NRS Narrowband Reference Signal    -   NS Network Service    -   NSA Non-Standalone operation mode    -   NSD Network Service Descriptor    -   NSR Network Service Record    -   NSSAI ‘Network Slice Selection Assistance Information    -   S-NNSAI Single-NSSAI    -   NSSF Network Slice Selection Function    -   NW Network    -   NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS    -   NZP Non-Zero Power    -   O&M Operation and Maintenance    -   ODU2 Optical channel Data Unit—type 2    -   OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing    -   OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   OOB Out-of-band    -   OOS Out of Sync    -   OPEX OPerating EXpense    -   OSI Other System Information    -   OSS Operations Support System    -   OTA over-the-air    -   PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio    -   PAR Peak to Average Ratio    -   PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel    -   PC Power Control, Personal Computer    -   PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC    -   PCell Primary Cell    -   PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity    -   PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function    -   PCF Policy Control Function    -   PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function    -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence        Protocol layer    -   PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel    -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol    -   PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network    -   PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel    -   PDU Protocol Data Unit    -   PEI Permanent Equipment Identifiers    -   PFD Packet Flow Description    -   P-GW PDN Gateway    -   PHICH Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel    -   PHY Physical layer    -   PLMN Public Land Mobile Network    -   PIN Personal Identification Number    -   PM Performance Measurement    -   PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator    -   PNF Physical Network Function    -   PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor    -   PNFR Physical Network Function Record    -   POC PTT over Cellular    -   PP, PTP Point-to-Point    -   PPP Point-to-Point Protocol    -   PRACH Physical RACH    -   PRB Physical resource block    -   PRG Physical resource block group    -   ProSe Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service    -   PRS Positioning Reference Signal    -   PRR Packet Reception Radio    -   PS Packet Services    -   PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel    -   PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel    -   PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel    -   PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel    -   PSCell Primary SCell    -   PSS Primary Synchronization Signal    -   PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network    -   PT-RS Phase-tracking reference signal    -   PTT Push-to-Talk    -   PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel    -   PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation    -   QCI QoS class of identifier    -   QCL Quasi co-location    -   QFI QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier    -   QoS Quality of Service    -   QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying    -   QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System    -   RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI    -   RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst    -   RACH Random Access Channel    -   RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service    -   RAN Radio Access Network    -   RAND RANDom number (used for authentication)    -   RAR Random Access Response    -   RAT Radio Access Technology    -   RAU Routing Area Update    -   RB Resource block, Radio Bearer    -   RBG Resource block group    -   REG Resource Element Group    -   Rel Release    -   REQ REQuest    -   RF Radio Frequency    -   RI Rank Indicator    -   RIV Resource indicator value    -   RL Radio Link    -   RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer    -   RLC AM RLC Acknowledged Mode    -   RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode    -   RLF Radio Link Failure    -   RLM Radio Link Monitoring    -   RLM-RS Reference Signal for RLM    -   RM Registration Management    -   RMC Reference Measurement Channel    -   RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information    -   RN Relay Node    -   RNC Radio Network Controller    -   RNL Radio Network Layer    -   RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   ROHC RObust Header Compression    -   RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control layer    -   RRM Radio Resource Management    -   RS Reference Signal    -   RSRP Reference Signal Received Power    -   RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality    -   RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator    -   RSU Road Side Unit    -   RSTD Reference Signal Time difference    -   RTP Real Time Protocol    -   RTS Ready-To-Send    -   RTT Round Trip Time    -   Rx Reception, Receiving, Receiver    -   S1AP S1 Application Protocol    -   S1-MME S1 for the control plane    -   S1-U S1 for the user plane    -   S-GW Serving Gateway    -   S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   S-TMSI SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier    -   SA Standalone operation mode    -   SAE System Architecture Evolution    -   SAP Service Access Point    -   SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor    -   SAPI Service Access Point Identifier    -   SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC    -   SCell Secondary Cell    -   SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   SCG Secondary Cell Group    -   SCM Security Context Management    -   SCS Subcarrier Spacing    -   SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol    -   SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation        Protocol layer    -   SDL Supplementary Downlink    -   SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function    -   SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)    -   SDSF Structured Data Storage Function    -   SDU Service Data Unit    -   SEAF Security Anchor Function    -   SeNB secondary eNB    -   SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy    -   SFI Slot format indication    -   SFTD Space-Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and frame timing        difference    -   SFN System Frame Number    -   SgNB Secondary gNB    -   SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node    -   S-GW Serving Gateway    -   SI System Information    -   SI-RNTI System Information RNTI    -   SIB System Information Block    -   SIM Subscriber Identity Module    -   SIP Session Initiated Protocol    -   SiP System in Package    -   SL Sidelink    -   SLA Service Level Agreement    -   SM Session Management    -   SMF Session Management Function    -   SMS Short Message Service    -   SMSF SMS Function    -   SMTC SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration    -   SN Secondary Node, Sequence Number    -   SoC System on Chip    -   SON Self-Organizing Network    -   SpCell Special Cell    -   SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI    -   SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling    -   SQN Sequence number    -   SR Scheduling Request    -   SRB Signalling Radio Bearer    -   SRS Sounding Reference Signal    -   SS Synchronization Signal    -   SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS/PBCH Block    -   SSBRI SS/PBCH Block Resource Indicator, Synchronization Signal        Block Resource Indicator    -   SSC Session and Service Continuity    -   SS-RSRP Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received        Power    -   SS-RSRQ Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received        Quality    -   SS-SINR Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and        Interference Ratio    -   SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal    -   SSSG Search Space Set Group    -   SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator    -   SST Slice/Service Types    -   SU-MIMO Single User MIMO    -   SUL Supplementary Uplink    -   TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area    -   TAC Tracking Area Code    -   TAG Timing Advance Group    -   TAU Tracking Area Update    -   TB Transport Block    -   TBS Transport Block Size    -   TBD To Be Defined    -   TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator    -   TCP Transmission Communication Protocol    -   TDD Time Division Duplex    -   TDM Time Division Multiplexing    -   TDMA Time Division Multiple Access    -   TE Terminal Equipment    -   TEID Tunnel End Point Identifier    -   TFT Traffic Flow Template    -   TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity    -   TNL Transport Network Layer    -   TPC Transmit Power Control    -   TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator    -   TR Technical Report    -   TRP, TRxP Transmission Reception Point    -   TRS Tracking Reference Signal    -   TRx Transceiver    -   TS Technical Specifications, Technical Standard    -   TTI Transmission Time Interval    -   Tx Transmission, Transmitting, Transmitter    -   U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter    -   UCI Uplink Control Information    -   UE User Equipment    -   UDM Unified Data Management    -   UDP User Datagram Protocol    -   UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function    -   UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card    -   UL Uplink    -   UM Unacknowledged Mode    -   UML Unified Modelling Language    -   UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System    -   UP User Plane    -   UPF User Plane Function    -   URI Uniform Resource Identifier    -   URL Uniform Resource Locator    -   URLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency    -   USB Universal Serial Bus    -   USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module    -   USS UE-specific search space    -   UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access    -   UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network    -   UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot    -   V2I Vehicle-to-Infrastruction    -   V2P Vehicle-to-Pedestrian    -   V2V Vehicle-to-Vehicle    -   V2X Vehicle-to-everything    -   VIM Virtualized Infrastructure Manager    -   VL Virtual Link,    -   VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network    -   VM Virtual Machine    -   VNF Virtualized Network Function    -   VNFFG VNF Forwarding Graph    -   VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor    -   VNFM VNF Manager    -   VoIP Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Internet Protocol    -   VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network    -   VPN Virtual Private Network    -   VRB Virtual Resource Block    -   WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access    -   WLAN Wireless Local Area Network    -   WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network    -   WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network    -   X2-C X2-Control plane    -   X2-U X2-User plane    -   XML eXtensible Markup Language    -   XRES EXpected user RESponse    -   XOR eXclusive OR    -   ZC Zadoff-Chu    -   ZP Zero Power

Terminology

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms anddefinitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussedherein.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includeshardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, aprocessor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared,dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), ahigh-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC),digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to providethe described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry mayexecute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at leastsome of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also referto a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination ofcircuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the programcode used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In theseembodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code maybe referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carryingout a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording,storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processorcircuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or morebaseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), asingle-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, aquad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing orotherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as programcode, software modules, and/or functional processes. The terms“application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be consideredsynonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between twoor more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may referto one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces,peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or thelike.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device withradio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user ofnetwork resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment”or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as,client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobileunit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station,access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurableradio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, theterm “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wireddevice or any computing device including a wireless communicationsinterface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical orvirtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired orwireless communication network services. The term “network element” maybe considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer,networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch,hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway,server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any typeinterconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or componentsthereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” mayrefer to various components of a computer that are communicativelycoupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or“system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiplecomputing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another andconfigured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used hereinrefers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g.,software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide aspecific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machineimage to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizesor emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide aspecific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtualdevice, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment,and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, suchas computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPUtime, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardwaretime or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports ornetwork sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage,storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or thelike. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/ornetwork resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A“virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or networkresources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application,device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communicationresource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computerdevices/systems via a communications network. The term “systemresources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services,and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources maybe considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects orservices, accessible through a server where such system resources resideon a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium,either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or adata stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalentto “communications channel,” “data communications channel,”“transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,”“data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequencycarrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or mediumthrough which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” asused herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT forthe purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used hereinrefers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivativesthereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another,may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other butstill cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one ormore other elements are coupled or connected between the elements thatare said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” maymean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another.The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elementsmay be in contact with one another by a means of communication includingthrough a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wirelesscommunication channel or ink, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containingone or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of aninformation element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configurationconfigured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block.

The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on theprimary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initialconnection establishment procedure or initiates the connectionre-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UEperforms random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Syncprocedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radioresources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.

The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cellscomprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UEconfigured with DC.

The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cellcomprising of the primary cell.

The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cellscomprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell ofthe SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers tothe Pcell.

1. A user equipment (UE), comprising: radio front end circuitry; andprocessor circuitry configured to: receive, using the radio front endcircuitry, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) resourceconfiguration for crosslink interference (CLI) measurement from a basestation; measure a RSSI of one or more received signals based at leastin part on the received RSSI resource configuration; and perform one ormore CLI measurements based at least in part on the measured RSSI;wherein the RSSI resource configuration includes an identifierinformation element (IE), one or more slot-level indication IEs, one ormore symbol-level indication IEs, one or more physical resource block(PRB)-level indication IEs, one or more resource element (RE) patternindication IEs, and one or more receive beam indication IEs.
 2. The UEof claim 1, wherein the one or more slot-level indication IEs indicatewhether a slot-level measurement resource is periodic orsemi-persistent.
 3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or moresymbol-level indication IEs comprise a start and length indication value(SLIV) to jointly indicate a start symbol and a length of datatransmission for RSSI measurement.
 4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the oneor more symbol-level indication IEs comprise a startPosition IE and anrofSymbols IE.
 5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or moresymbol-level indication IEs comprise a bitmap indicating orthogonalfrequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols for measurement.
 6. TheUE of claim 1, wherein the one or more PRB-level indication IEs comprisea resource indicator value (RIV) indicating a starting PRB and a lengthof continuously allocated PRBs.
 7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one ormore PRB-level indication IEs comprise a bitmap to indicatenon-contiguous PRBs for RSSI measurement.
 8. The UE of claim 1, whereinthe one or more RE pattern indication IEs comprise one or moreresourceElementMapping IEs to indicate an RE pattern for RSSImeasurement.
 9. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more receive beamindication IEs comprise a spatialRelationInfo IE to indicate a receivebeam for RSSI measurement.
 10. A method, comprising: receiving, by auser equipment (UE) in a wireless network, a received signal strengthindicator (RSSI) resource configuration for crosslink interference (CLI)measurement from a base station; measure, by the UE, a RSSI of one ormore received signals based at least in part on the received RSSIresource configuration; and perform, by the UE, one or more CLImeasurements based at least in part on the measured RSSI; wherein theRSSI resource configuration includes an identifier information element(IE), one or more slot-level indication IEs, one or more symbol-levelindication IEs, one or more physical resource block (PRB)-levelindication IEs, one or more resource element (RE) pattern indicationIEs, and one or more receive beam indication IEs.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the one or more slot-level indication IEs indicatewhether a slot-level measurement resource is periodic orsemi-persistent.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or moresymbol-level indication IEs comprise at least one of a start and lengthindication value (SLIV) IE, startPosition IE, a nrofSymbols IE, or abitmap indicating orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)symbols for measurement.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the one ormore PRB-level indication IEs comprise a resource indicator value (RIV)indicating a starting PRB and a length of continuously allocated PRBs,or a bitmap indicating non-contiguous PRBs for RSSI measurement.
 14. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the one or more RE pattern indication IEscomprise one or more resourceElementMapping IEs to indicate an REpattern for RSSI measurement.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein theone or more receive beam indication IEs comprise a spatialRelationInfoIE to indicate a receive beam for RSSI measurement.
 16. A base station,comprising: a memory that stores instructions; and a processor, uponexecuting the instructions, configured to: determine a received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) resource configuration for crosslinkinterference (CLI) measurement; measure RSSI of one or more receivedsignals based at least in part on the RSSI resource configuration; andperform one or more CLI measurements based at least in part on themeasured RSSI; wherein the RSSI resource configuration includes anidentifier information element (IE), one or more slot-level indicationIEs, one or more symbol-level indication IEs, one or more physicalresource block (PRB)-level indication IEs, one or more resource element(RE) pattern indication IEs, and one or more receive beam indicationIEs.
 17. The base station of claim 16, wherein the one or moreslot-level indication IEs indicate whether a slot-level measurementresource is periodic or semi-persistent.
 18. The base station of claim16, wherein the one or more symbol-level indication IEs comprise atleast one of a start and length indication value (SLIV) IE,startPosition IE, a nrofSymbols IE, or a bitmap indicating orthogonalfrequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols for measurement.
 19. Thebase station of claim 16, wherein the one or more PRB-level indicationIEs comprise a resource indicator value (RIV) indicating a starting PRBand a length of continuously allocated PRBs, or a bitmap indicatingnon-contiguous PRBs for RSSI measurement.
 20. The base station of claim16, wherein the one or more RE pattern indication IEs comprise one ormore resourceElementMapping IEs to indicate an RE pattern for RSSImeasurement, and wherein the one or more receive beam indication IEscomprise a spatialRelationInfo IE to indicate a receive beam for RSSImeasurement.